IRL And All Realities
by ozsia
Summary: The first time he picked up Gryffindor's sword he had been young and terrified. The second time he fumbled the hilt, he had still been young and he had still been terrified. The third time? He was not much older and no more prepared for the world he had just entered, nor for the enemy he will face in order to win this twisted game of life and death.
1. Links Start Into Madness

**Code:** HP,SAO-IRL-MC

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the featured media, the rights go to their respected owners.

 **Medium:** Harry Potter Crossover Sword Art Online

 **Title:** IRL And All Realities

 **Notable Sub-genres: [** Kirito **/** Harry **]**. Mature-With-Actual-Human-Intelligence! Dudley. Dursley, Dumbledore, Ron and Hermione bashing

 **Rating:** " T" Relatively safe language and some serious themes which include, though might not be limited to: homosexuality/ homophobia, life and death situations and character death.

 **Chapter:** Multi-chapter.

 **Status.** In progress

* * *

The doorbell rung throughout the house on a Sunday afternoon. Dudley remembered getting up from the sofa, placing his IT textbook down on the coffee table and feeling the pull of his muscles, as he absently stretched out the kinks.

He yawned as he made his way down the hallway, eyes misty from lack of sleep Dudley paid little attention to the direction he was heading, having lived in this house all his life. The only real change that had occurred was the emptiness of the cupboard under the stairs, and then the third bedroom. Both of which had been abandoned for years.

'I'm coming. I'm coming.' Dudley grunted in annoyance as the doorbell rang again.

Nearing the door, he hesitated briefly as his fingers skimmed over the security chain. Sighing, he undid it. Whacked out Wizards wouldn't bother with the bell; if they even knew what it was. They'd just blast it open.

Dudley twisted the key to the unlock the bolt with more force than necessary, irritated that he had even thought that when his cousin had taken the magic and all its supposed risks with him. When he had been pulled from his bed in the middle of the night, two long years ago.

Shaking a hand through his thick hair, he thrust the door open. 'Yeah? What -' his eyes took a second to focus on the two figures ahead, and another for him to process what he was seeing.

Two men stood just in front of his door step: one tall, black and easily recognisable from three in the morning and a bump in the night, whispers through walls before his cousin was being dragged away.

This man meant nothing to him - the bone he wanted to pick notwithstanding - but the smaller of the two, who stood in front of the former with his head bowed and looking for all the world, like he had just gone two rounds with the Hulk and only had bruised pride to show with it, was...

'...Harry?' Dudley asks, name barely touching his tongue as he instinctively steps forward. Mum and Dad wouldn't talk about Harry past hisses of war and death, and none of the neighbours or their old Primary school classmates remember him or weren't _able_ to remember him.

Sixteen and looking like men did when they were eighty and they had seen it all, only to have lived to tell about it by the skin of their teeth and found there was nothing left to say. Harry more drawn and tired than Dudley ever recalls, straightens slowly like there are weights strapped to his back and lifts his head, smile barely cracking his face.

'Yeah...De.' Harry responds, his expression wavering like his facial muscles were no longer used to accommodating anything beyond bleak. 'Long time, huh?'

Dudley's stomach sits inside him like lead and his chest tightens.

Because Dudley had seen Harry through almost four years of that school, and everything that, that had entailed. Harry's moods had gone from one extreme to another but however bad it had gotten, Harry had always seemed...ready for it. Like things were down right terrible and it was painful and it couldn't _possibly_ be worse, but how it was also _life_ and living and fighting.

Now though...

Now there was no fight. Dudley struggled to find much _life_ either, in Harry's numb features, or his worn form.

'What the fuck did you do to him?' Dudley found himself demanding, narrowed eyes flickering up to the man - old, too old to be depending on _boys_ to fight - who hadn't spoken a word since the door had opened.

And he continued his silence, but Dudley knew he had heard, his pained grimace said enough. Harry's eyes - dim; no longer processing that inner fire that burned his green eyes to shine like emeralds - had squeezed themselves shut. A pained self-acknowledgement that _yeah, I'm a horrible, horrible mess right now._

'We are sorry for disturbing you, Mister Dursley,' the man addresses instead which only serves to further anger Dudley. 'But due to recent events, the Wizarding World has become...unsafe for -'

Dudley held up a hand, his movements he knew were more aggressive than he wanted as Harry flinched, his right arm tensing no doubt for his wand. 'Hold it. I don't know where you're getting off showing back up here out of the blue, and then treating that whole thing like its nothing.' He said in a breath. His awe at _seeing_ Harry again now overcome because he had spent two _years_ thinking his underage cousin had been spirited off to a war.

'But that's my fucking _cousin_ right there.' Dudley states in a way he probably has no right to. 'And you treat this like a service message?'

Dudley heard Harry's sharp in take of breath which only built up the guilt he had been carrying over how he had behaved, how he had treated Harry while Harry was dealing with things Dudley would never fully understand, and didn't need any more shit on top of it.

'You people just - you just _took_ him _._ And barely offered up any explanation beyond " _He's_ back, prepare for the worst."' Whoever the fuck that was, but Dudley had a feeling that however steamed he was, it wasn't something he could just bring up. 'And to be honest, whatever that _was_ about, I'd prefer not to hear it from you, least of all in the middle of the street.'

The man holds his hands up in peace but Dudley's not done. He is so _far_ from done.

'Two fucking years I spent thinking I might never see this bastard again, because Harry's good, he's kind, an absolute bloody pushover. That he'd end up dying for you and that one day soon there'd be a knock at the door, or a stupid bird flying through the window with the news that yeah, we had one more martyr in the family.'

He'd never met Aunt Lilly or Uncle James but Dudley knew enough to know their deaths were tied in with Harry's future - or what was his future, if he were back here now- and that even after all these years Mum had never gotten over losing a sister, however estranged.

Harry shudders a breath and the man's looking impossibly guilty and Dudley can't feel an inch of guilt. 'So now you've brought him back. Well whoopee-do. Thanks for reuniting us. Now you can fuck off until you find another State emergency that has to be fixed by a teenager, and leave Harry with me.'

The man seems pained now, the skin under his eyes is tight and his lips are in a straight line but does nothing to defend himself. 'Harry.' He says in askance.

Harry continues to stare at Dudley for a minute longer; like he doesn't quite know who he's looking at. 'It's alright, Kings.' Harry reassures, his face losing its surprise until all it has left was fatigue. 'Go on back so you can catch the rest of those bastards. I'll explain things to De and...his parents.'

"Kings" nods, turns to leave only to stop short. 'Remember to keep the Portkey on you, Harry.'

Harry just crosses his arms over his chest, the first Dudley had seen of his snarky attitude. The same snarky attitude that would set Dad's skin purple and earn Mum's disapproval. 'Yeah, yeah. Constant vigilance. I know.' It was good to know that there was still some of that in him, since it had survived countless punishments and chores.

Kings' parting smile is bittersweet and the lasting image of a man, Dudley knows he won't see again. Turning to his cousin and ignoring the loud "crack" as the man disappears, he opens the door wider and steps back to let him through, pretending not to notice how Harry hesitates.

'Come on in.' Dudley says and waits until Harry's past him to lock and re-blot the door. Harry stays near the stairs and doesn't move again until Dudley shows him the way to the kitchen. Theres no way Harry's forgotten but then Dudley did recall, now that he thinks on it, that Harry rarely went in front.

Gesturing to the table and chairs, Dudley throws 'Take a seat,' over his shoulder as he goes to put the kettle on.

Soon enough tea was made, but not fast enough for Dudley who had been trying to think of words to say. Harry seemed content to the silence but than Dudley couldn't be his favourite person.

'So...' Dudley started awkwardly as he settled on to the chair opposite Harry's, having placed the steaming cup in front of his cousin who made it into a distraction, with long fingers curling around the china while tired eyes stared into their reflection.

'So.' Harry sighed. 'I'm back.'

Dudley doesn't find any humour in that dry statement, he doubts many could. 'Yeah, you are.' He replies with much the same tone. 'Mind telling me about that?'

Harry tenses and Dudley waits for his cousin to unfreeze while absently sipping tea, and ignoring the way it burned his tongue. 'Er...Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon?' He asks.

'Out.' Dudley answers and finds that he can't blame Harry for being uneasy about them. 'They won't be back until later, now spill.' He found Harry being back far more important than explaining his parents business dinner.

'Do you...remember that Tournament I had to participate in?' Harry started off tentatively, hands tightening around his cup. Dudley frowned: that Tournament had caused nothing but grief. He still remembered the results of Harry's nightmares. 'Well, I tied in first but when we took the cup...Cedric and I, we got er...transported to a graveyard.'

'A graveyard? Doesn't seem like a place to celebrate.' Dudley commented.

A dark smile tilted Harry's lips and he briefly looked up. 'Maybe, if you're not a Dark Lord.' He says. 'When we got there...Wormtail and Voldemort were there too. Cedric was killed and I...I was used to bring the Dark Lord back.'

'Hold on.' Dudley interrupted before Harry could go on. 'I thought that, that Voldemort guy was the one who...you know,' and tapped his own forehead, where if he were a mirror there would be a scar reflected.

'Thats the one.' Harry said with barely a pause, fearless in his certainty.

'But...that Headmaster of yours. He said you had...defeated him.' Dudley stuttered, confused and wondering when he would overstep that line of Harry's temper. Harry's parents and _That night_ had always been a...sensitive subject. 'And even if you didn't, how could you have...brought him back when you said he was already there when you arrived.'

Harry huffed a sigh, fatigue in ever line of his body as he slumped over, one hand sliding the untouched drink away while the pushed back at his fringe; hair longer than it had ever been with tresses that framed is cheeks easily passing his chin. Mum would be disgusted to discover that the back went all the down Harry's neck, just past his shoulders in the longest layers.

'Sorry...I forget how little you know, with how much of my life seems to be...broadcasted I just sort of expect people to.' Harry says in exhaustion. 'During the first war a prophecy was made; a prophecy that said a child would be born that would defeat the Dark Lord. It shouldn't surprise you to learn that I was one of the suspected children. My parents and the Longbottom's - who also fit the prophecy went into hiding.'

This was starting to sound like something straight out of the Lord of The Rings but Dudley nodded along, and tried to follow what Harry was saying. 'If you were in hiding then how'd the guy find you?' He couldn't help but ask.

If anything Harry seemed to age further as his spine bent lower. 'The spell my parents used to hide in their cottage was a Charm that made their house undetectable.' Harry tried to explain. 'It made Godric's Hollow and the knowledge of it's location completely vanish, if you can believe it. However with how the Charm works, you need someone to know where it is; a Secret Keeper. My dad's friend, called Wormtail, got chosen.'

'And...?' Dudley waited. Did they guy die or something?

'Unfortunately Wormtail was a Death Eater and sold us out.' Harry replied with a dark twist of his lips. 'When Voldemort heard of the prophecy from an old friend of my mother's - another betrayal - He went to Godric's Hollow to put a stop to it before it could be begin, while another party would move in and...dispose of the Longbottom's.'

Harry swallowed and his eyes flickered down to the table and stared down to one of the coffee stains, his finger circling around it. 'I doubt you've heard because I'm sure Aunt Petunia doesn't know, but I remember that night.'

Dudley's breath hitches and he instantly straightens. 'My dad went down first. He didn't have his wand on him; taught magic from eleven and a Pure-blood but...defenseless. My mum took me and ran. Tried to barricade the nursery but...' Harry shrugs helpless. 'Her last words were pleading for my life.'

'Harry...' Dudley gasps in shock, feeling very unequipped on how to handle this information or how to comfort his cousin. All those times Harry would defend his parents like he'd rather _die_ than let anyone speak badly of them...No wonder it was one of the few things that got under his skin.

'Harry -'

'Then - after she died - He turned his wand on me.' Harry pulls back his fringe that has enough length now to clip his eyes and ignoring any attempts from Dudley that _it was fine,_ he didn't need to know this part. 'I got the scar when His Curse rebounded back onto Him; rebounded because my mother's death acted as a sacrifice.'

'Its ironic. If He had shown mercy and let her live, I would have died instead and His stupid prophecy would have been dissolved. He would have won.'

'So...he _did_ die?'

Harry shakes his head. 'No. His body did. He was saved from meeting his maker because of a counter measure he had, had in place.' Harry pauses and pins Dudley with a look of intense focus. 'I don't know if you've gained religious tendencies since I've been gone, but if you have...you won't like this next bit.'

Dudley dismisses that instantly and Harry continues without acknowledgement. 'His body was destroyed but His soul was spared the same...fate. See, De, He split His soul. He split it into seven pieces which anchored him to life.'

'You can do that?' Dudley can feel fear stir and his shoulders tense. No, he's not religious but that...that sounds disgusting. Repulsive. 'Is that a - a...common thing? Because -'

'Its Dark magic!' Harry snaps. Dudley can feel the hairs of his neck standing up, he can guess whats causing it. 'Its all but unknown because its forbidden! The very few people who _have_ ever Cast it were executed for crimes against humanity!'

Ah. Temper like a roaring fire or an angry lion, Dudley had not missed this and raises his hands. 'Harry I wasn't trying to imply anything by it.' He tries to appease, for no other reason than he's gotten big enough to know his little cousin could have any day of the week.

'The amount I know about...magic is about the same as what _you_ know about technology.'

The fire dies, leaving rubble in its wake. 'Sorry...' Harry whispers.

'No, its fine.' Dudley reassures and he can't help but hate how _tired_ Harry is. 'This has been...really real for you, I get it.'

A slow, pained smile draws itself with a shaky hand upon Harry's lips, but it doesn't meet his eyes as they remain empty. 'You sure you want to know about this?'

'Of course.' Dudley says firmly and can't help but feel sad that Harry has to ask. 'I...I know I was a brat when I was kid. I probably put you off of having children but...but the night you saved my life? Well, it changed me. I'm not sure if it was the Wizard doctor -'

'Healer.' Harry corrects absently with a frown, but Dudley can't help but notice that Harry seems to have his full attention on what he's saying.

'Right. Well, I'm not sure if the D-Healer fixed more than the damage of those...er.' Dudley just now realises that he never found out what those things were called. By the time he had been returned to house, his parents had been in full out fuss mode and Harry had been locked in the cupboard for the next week.

'Dementors, De, they're called Dementors.' Harry tells him, a small tremor running down his body as he did so.

'Er, sure. you okay?' Dudley hadn't seen Harry look like that before. However Harry just nods and waits for Dudley to continue so reluctantly, he does. 'After the Dementors and getting healed, I could think more clearly and I honestly regretted everything me and my parents had been doing to you. It was wrong and I...I didn't like my part in it.'

Stunned doesn't fully cover the look Harry's sporting. 'I was going to make it up to you but I wasn't fully recovered by the time you were gone.' Dudley finishes. 'Which is why I want to know - everything. Including why you're back and how long you'll be staying.'

Theres a blush there now. Dudley had seen it before, in Primary School when he was embarrassing Harry in front of the class. He just hopes he hasn't repeated history.

Harry coughs slightly. 'Alright. Well, The Tournament had ended up being this whole setup by Voldemort's Death Eaters, to get _me_ there. It worked well enough because I was sent to the grave yard, but so was Cedric.' Harry shudders a breath and takes a moment before continuing.

'Cedric's feet had barely hit the ground when he was killed.'

Dudley doesn't know why he's surprised at this point and closes his eyes. No wonder that name sounded familiar: it was the name that Harry had screamed his sleep, desperate and terrified. The name that Dudley had goaded with in the park just before Harry saved him.

'I'm sorry.'

'Its not your fault.' Harry replies but Dudley can hear the guilt and wonders if he blames himself for it. For Cedric. 'I was taken out after. The next thing I know I'm being trapped by a gravestone; you know one of those statues that stands over the remains, and...'

'Its...okay. Take your time.' Dudley doesn't know what to do about seeing Harry emotional; he's clumsy and he doesn't know anyone whose suffered even a car accident, never mind _this._

Harry takes a deep breath before looking up with a face of loathing. 'My blood. They used my blood in the ceremony that brought Him back, and I wasn't strong enough to stop them. _My blood_ was used to help create Voldemort a body.'

It sounded like something from a cult or Satanic worship that Dudley sometimes heard about on the news, only this had happened to his _cousin_ and had, had very real results.

'Is that why you were...such a mess when you came back for the hols?' Dudley barely remembered because only week after returning from school he was attacked, but he knew that Harry walked around the house like a zombie, prone to outbursts once confronted: like an agitated bear with a thorn in its paw.

'They didn't believe me. Our Minister - he said I was delusional. An attention seeking boy.' There was bitterness there, like Harry had been force fed lemons and couldn't get the taste out of his mouth. 'The next edition of the Daily Prophet was speculating If the Killing Curse - the one that gave me the scar - didn't...mess me up. Commented on my disturbed nature...'

'What?' Dudley couldn't believe that. Surely it wasn't that hard to believe was it? They lived in a _magical_ world.

Harry snorts at his reaction. 'Yeah. I think thats how Privet Drive got a visit from those Dementors.' He speculates with Dudley sitting ram rod straight. 'I had fallen out of favour and they needed to shout me up.'

Dudley's mouth is suddenly very dry but he bring himself to take another sip of tea. 'Is...is that why you left?' From the voices he had heard from his bed, that last night, Dudley didn't think that Harry was given much of a choice.

Harry shakes his head. 'No...With the Government denying Voldemort's return, the Dark was in a good position to cause chaos; and they did. Everything was absolute Hell.' His gaze staring ahead had no focus. With chills Dudley wonders what it is he sees.

'What did that have to do with you?' Harry had been fourteen for goodness sake.

His voice seems to startle Harry from where ever he was, and it was with a dull voice that he replied: 'The Light was losing traction and supporters. There were anonymous attacks happening, people were going missing.' He listed drolly, so unlike the Harry that Dudley remembered, who would have been ablaze with sympathy and a fury for those responsible.

'The night I...left, was for training with Mad Eye - a...Wizard Policeman.'

'But you were fourteen!' Dudley finally shouted, his patience for this stupidity all but gone.

Harry barely twitched and met his eyes coolly. 'It hadn't mattered. There was an impending war. Soon enough children would be in the line of fire anyway - heck, they already had been.'

'You...'

'Dumbledore was desperate. People were dying. The Light was losing. If he didn't act quickly then there would have been no chance for recovery. My " _childhood"_ officially ended with my induction into The Order.'

What was depressing? And not just the whole thing - but really, _really_ depressing was how it didn't even sound like Harry was arguing his point of view. Just stating facts. Did he even believe what he was saying, or just couldn't find a point for fighting against it?

When Dudley kept silent Harry continued in the same silted tones. Dudley hated it.

'I spent a year in isolation; training day in, day out. Didn't get much news from the outside. I think Dumbledore was scared I do something stupid if I knew how far things were deteriorating, while I was beating the crap out of practice dummies.'

'Isolation? What about those friends of yours?' Dudley asked in confusion. There was a girl but the redheads had done a lot for Harry.

'What about them?'

Okay. Something was wrong there. Understatement maybe. Something was _very_ wrong there.

'What _happened,_ Harry.'

They hadn't...didn't... _die,_ had they?

Finally, Harry reached for his tea and with trembling hands lifted it to his mouth. For a few minutes he spent nervously gulping. It must have been cold by now but Harry didn't seem to care.

When he put the cup down it was just as well Harry drunk so much because the liquid sloshed around the sides, with how he had tilted it.

'I got a few messages from them at the beginning.' Harry says like he's tiptoeing around something. 'But it got...complicated the more months that went by and I was still in training. When I was eventually deemed ready to be let loose a lot of people we had known were, dead. They couldn't understand why I hadn't come sooner and at the Battle of Hogwarts, the image of me swinging around Gryffindor's Sword after getting hit with the Killing Curse _again_. Well, that had been it for them.'

'...I don't understand.' Dudley utters in positive confusion, his frown deep and true.

Harry might have tried to smile. 'I scared them.' He replied as if that answered everything.

Dudley sat forward in annoyance and gestured uselessly with his hands. 'Let me get this straight, you defeat their megalomaniac for them and they get all shifty about _how_ you do it?'

'Dumbledore hadn't been too impressed either. Looked at me after like I had just stabbed him in the back.' Harry says, staying at the palms of his hands that he had uncurled and rested on the table top. It doesn't take long to see how rough the skin was, or the silvery lines that were cut into them either: scars.

'Is...' Dudley's not all to sure with how to phrase it but figures that honesty was best. 'Is that why you're back? Because they don't...'

Dudley's starting to get the idea that the questions Harry either doesn't want to answer, or doesn't know how to, takes the longest for him.

'...No.' Harry replies eventually and not all that certain either. 'There are still some Death Eaters and unmarked supporters that managed to escape when Voldemort...fell. The Order's brought me back here to hide me from anyone who might want revenge.'

'And...how long will that take?'

Harry squeezed his eyes shut and his hands turned into troubled fists. 'I don't know.'

* * *

Harry had been at Private Drive close to three months and while Dudley would like to say that his presence changed nothing, it had. Dad was constantly in a bad mood and spent his time snapping at Harry and making his opinion of the magical community well know or getting aggressively, obviously trying to rile Harry up.

It never worked, Harry seemed unable to care about what Dad said or what he did. Though the one time Dad had taken an ill-advised swing at Harry, he hadn't even used magic to take down a man twice his size and more than triple his weight.

Mum wasn't much better with treating her nephew like he didn't exist.

(Dudley couldn't decide if that was because Mum hated Harry that much or if looking at him was as painful for her, as it was for him.)

And the few times Dudley had caught her staring, he wasn't sure what exactly shadowed her face. It hadn't been very positive thats for sure.

Dudley for the most part spent his time with his cousin who had turned into a hermit since fourteen, and didn't like the thought of going out or being around people which was obvious, with how Harry had acted when his friends had come over.

Having finished his GCSEs Dudley had a lot of time until he was expected to start a college next year. He still studied a few of his tech books but others tried to put his efforts on getting Harry out of his armour.

He had even asked Harry what he wanted to do with his education, as Dudley suddenly realised that his cousin hadn't been in..."Muggle" education since eleven. No qualifications to his name, or records to where he had been since age Primary School.

Harry had replied with a "I don't know" and hadn't seemed all that bothered, before admitting that he wasn't sure what World he should be in anymore, which _had_ seemed to bother him. A lot.

Dudley hadn't thrown too many more questions Harry's way after that, figuring that he had enough of his mind without having to justify himself to his stupid cousin. Instead Dudley tried to involve the Wizard recluse into some of his activities.

Most of which involved some sort of technology, or game (both of which were things that Dudley wanted to study in college once he got there.)

Harry barely understood any of it and although some of the more graphic games amazed him, he wasn't a big fan overall. Though that might just be because Harry seemed to find enthusiasm a foreign concept.

Which is why Dudley was so reluctant about today.

'You really don't have to.' He reaffirmed even as he continued to Set Up his computer. He didn't need to turn around to see that Harry was still sat on his bed, Nervegear in his lap as his fingers lightly examined the machine. He hadn't moved since he had been shoved inside by Dad.

Harry didn't reply right away either but Dudley had gotten used to that. In fact, he'd have been more surprised if there _had_ be an immediate response. Instead Dudley continued with the Installation process.

Annoyingly it was more complicated with the two of them using the one computer. It made a relatively simple program take twice as long; a compliant that had also been kicking around the few English forums from the Betas. It obviously hadn't been fixed.

'Yeah,' the voice was rough - as disused as it was, Dudley was just grateful anything came out at all. 'Yeah, I know but I'd rather avoid an argument to be honest and if this is all it takes, then its no big deal.'

' _Harry.'_ Dudley sighs as he reaches to click "Finish" with the mouse so that the computer could Install and Reboot itself. That done, he turns in his swivel chair to face the bed - and his cousin. 'I'm sorry, I shouldn't have mentioned the game in front of Mum.'

And yeah, that was a mistake he still hadn't gotten out of the habit of. He just wasn't used to censoring himself, even if his common sense should have kicked in.

Especially with the recent Newspaper rag commenting on this generations new, "dangerous" technology and _where is this going to lead our children? Violence? Crime?_ It hadn't helped that it was made and owned by a foreign company, even if they hadn't said it directly.

No Mum hadn't liked that sound of it at all (he hadn't told her that he had brought a copy, at time. Hadn't even thought about it). Dudley had been talking about ordering another Nervegear for Harry she, of course demanded that Harry accept should he want remain under their roof, in case something happened to _her poor Dudder's_.

(Dudley had really wanted to ask how Harry was meant to do to protect him, if they were _inside_ the game and something _did_ happen.)

Looking at Harry though and Dudley still thought it could do him some good. With the effects of the war written all over Harry's body and his spine bent like he was Atlas, and the pressure and stress was beginning to become all too much.

The Nervegear could help with that: a new environment, something to keep his mind off the memories that woke him in the middle of the night...

That, and Harry could spend _hours_ in silence, without interacting with anyone but he also seemed to _need_ to be doing something; like he couldn't sit still or just relax.

Dudley had reserved a copy of SAO since before Harry's return and when it had arrived in the post a month ago, the idea had just come to him. Buying another Nervegear was relatively simple though he, perhaps, should have asked _before_ he had ordered it.

Really the idea of the FullDive _wasn't_ very popular in England. At all. Not among normal people, but for gamers or the like it was an _amazing_ enervation that could go towards improving all sorts of technology.

His family surprise, surprise were not gamers or the like.

'If you're really against playing that much you can just stay in here and wait for me to Log back Out. That'll give you an alibi and we'll just pretend you Dived with me.' Dudley suggested, because he already felt like an arse with both both his now past and present failings with his cousin.

Harry smiled a little; a weak pull of his lips but it was than Dudley had seen in _days._ And fuck that was a downer.

'Nah, you remember what Aunt Petunia said: I've got to come along to protect you from the mean cyber monsters.' Harry teased and wasn't that miracle?

Despite that, and how much _real_ experience with combat Harry had, Dudley new that he'd struggle with the concept.

'Besides I didn't spend an hour fiddling with your computer to create my profile for that character.'

'Your avatar, Wizard.' Dudley corrected with a roll of his eyes and yeah, that had been an exercise in patience.

They had set up the Nervegear details yesterday but Dudley had to talk Harry through what to do from how to put the Nervegear on, to closing his eyes because the visor flashes when for its first start up. He had even had to watch while Harry touched himself up so there was no mistakes with the sensors.

Dudley had entered Harry's Nervegear details into the system too, but had taken a step back so Harry could enter the Handle he wanted to be known as, (though _that_ needed another explanation of: ' _Why can't I just be Harry?', 'Because_ that's _personal!')_ and then later on, what he wanted his avatar to look like, something Harry hadn't taken very seriously either.

'Just don't blame me if my magic takes something as a threat and I end up frying your computer. I've been...on-guard recently.'

Dudley snorts. The question was when _wasn't_ Harry on-guard? Something he couldn't help but be a bit concerned about. He hadn't originally thought about how magic and technology didn't exactly mix well when he talked to Harry about it.

'Yeah, yeah.' Dudley tried to dismiss as he didn't feel much need in getting worked up about it. One FullDive and Dudley would know if it was safe or not, and if it wasn't Harry needn't have to do it again.

Turning back around for his computer Dudley noted it had thankfully finished its Reboot and was now Locked. He Logged back In and waited for a moment until his Homepage appeared.

Glancing at the clock at the right-hand corner of his screen Dudley saw it was _08:48._ Nearly time.

Still, one last attempt couldn't hurt.

'Sure you'll be alright to handle an all nighter?' He asked only to jump out of his skin when he looked over his shoulder to see Harry learning over him, one of his hands on the desk propping him up and the other holding the Nervegear.

'Would you stop doing that!' Dudley snaps, question forgotten at the feeling his heart skipping a beat in shock. Harry had always been a fast little git, he had just turned into a freaking _ninja_ when he returned; constantly coming up from behind with his horribly silent footsteps.

Harry simply raised an eyebrow and didn't apologise. Dudley really hadn't expected him to, for Harry those skills were life saving and tried to relax back in his seat.

'I'll be fine for a few hours.' Harry replied. They both knew that he didn't sleep much anyway.

Though the launch time _was_ one of a few weird things about SAO, that no one Online could quite figure out. Why keep to the same time all over the world? It didn't seem too business savvy to Dudley, the fact that the first VRMMO could survive the inconvenience aside.

In Japan it would begin at one in the evening, which was a very reasonable time for the weekend, but in England? They were eight hours ahead so the launch didn't start until nine at night.

(Speaking of bad business sense, why only ten-thousand copies world wide? Worries for Servers crashing aside, they could have sold a lot more.)

That being said with the amount of time they had spent creating both their Accounts on the official SAO website, they could have done it today and then there wouldn't have been all this waiting around.

(It wasn't too complicated, Dudley just had to register the computer for both Nervegears and because each, individual Nervegear had an identification code it was the simple matter of setting their different Accounts set, to the right Nervegear so their information would be sent through the system.)

'What about you?' Harry startled Dudley out of his thoughts. 'Think you can go without your beauty sleep?'

'What does it matter?' Dudley says in jest. He'd be fine for a few hours at least. 'If I get too tired and lose my concentration, I'll have my bodyguard there with me.'

Harry pulls back with a huff, obviously disgruntled. 'Whatever you're paying this bodyguard, it doesn't seem enough.' He states.

Dudley smirks, as he glances at the pouting, baby cousin in the corner of his eye while he double clicks the SAO icon that had appeared. The icon pulses twice before the Page opens up.

 **Connection Ready** was the only thing on the page, in a box that had pointed sides either end, blue in colour.

Luckily, Dudley thought even if there _had_ been a language option, it was in English. It was one of the few things he had worried about.

He takes his hand off his mouse and reaches for his own Nervegear which is on the side of his desk, sharing the outlet with the computer to charge using a USB cable, since there was only the single plug in the room: the one by the bed.

Dudley had given Harry the mattress since the instructions had said you had to be in an inclined position, and the Nervegear had to remain plugged in for the first run of the game. That left him with his chair even if Harry had protested, saying that it was his room so he should have the bed.

As if. Harry tried to hide it and did so well, but Dudley spent enough time with him to know he was still recovering from injuries. He limbed a bit, Dudley had noticed and found it difficult to be sat down without his legs stretched out.

Turning the Nervegear On from where it had been patiently waiting Dudley looks to his cousin, who sighs quietly but relaxes back onto the bed, seeming stiff and ill at ease. 'Remember what you have to do?'

Harry sighs again but nods anyway. 'Yeah, once I have this contraption on my head I say the starting phrase, and that'll initiate the program. When everything goes black I shouldn't worry because that's the machine working and not me, ya know, _dying.'_ Harry stressed through his teeth.'Once that's done there should be a tunnel of flying colours, which is fine too. Not like sniffing glue gone wrong or anything.'

Harry trusted technology as much as Dudley's Mum. Which was to say not at all. It was probably the only thing the two of them would ever agree on.

'It should _then_ take me to a quick load screen where I'll need to think of both my Username and Password and language setting, clearly, while the options pop up or I'll get the network confused.' Harry continued to recite in the same deadpanned voice.

Dudley knew why too. He had probably gone on a bit too much, but he had been worried that Harry would find the actual use of the equipment a bit...much.

Dudley coughed sheepishly. 'That's right. Since we're both using the same Wifi, we should arrive at Spawn Point at the same time. If not, stay where you land and I'll come find you. Got it?'

'Whose the bodyguard again?' Harry mutters as he briefly pushes himself up from his laid back position so he could fit the Nervegear onto his head. When he relaxes back onto the mattress his knuckles are white and his socked feet are curled.

Dudley didn't reply and put his own Nervegear on. He knew he was worrying about nothing but he wanted SAO to be _good_ for Harry, and that meant dogging his footsteps to keep his cousin away from players who would use his inexperience of the virtual world against him.

Dudley shifted down in his chair to get more comfortable in the quiet. Harry hadn't been all that _wrong_ after all, the Nervegear blocked the normal signals sent by the brain, (or something like that. A scientist he was not) and sent them through the network instead. Meaning that one pain in the neck was waiting for him later if he didn't relax now.

Rolling his shoulders slightly, he spied the clock along the top of the visor. _08:59._

He'd think about that single minute when time got scarred and things had changed for them, forever.

Right now it was just a minute. Later it would be the time he wished he could undo, when playing SAO turned into playing SAO on fear of death, with thousands of other players all not wanting to die, or wanting to die and just waiting for it to happen.

But for now, all that was in front of them. A nightmare yet unseen and, unknowing of what awaited them Harry and Dudley exclaimed together:

'Link Start!'

* * *

 **Con/textual Vomit:** So many annoying plot bunnies that refuse to give me peace! No _idea_ why my brain thought this was a good idea however, it just won't leave me alone! I feel, however, that I should warn you that I don't have much - if any - practical experience with RPGs, I've only played a few DS games and thats it, so you'll have to excuse any mistakes I make. I'll deliberately try and avoid mentioning too much I know nothing about.

I also feel like I should mention, to avoid confusion, that the HP timeline has well and truly been messed up to better fit the story, and to give me more room for creativity. If something I write goes against what you know from canon, its not a mistake, its fanfiction, which I feel is all the explanation you need.

For those of you wondering why I added a few (a lot of) IQ points to Dudley's name? Because if I hadn't then I don't think this would have ever started.

So, yeah, this is pretty much a filler to show you how Harry got on SAO to start with which is why there isn't much actual content. If you have any suggestions for quests/ adventures I'd love to hear them.

 _ **(First Uploaded: 28/07/15) (Updated: 31/07/2013)**_

 **OZ**


	2. By My Reflection, So Be It

**Aincrad Arc**

 **By My Reflection, So Be It**

He couldn't stop staring at his hands. They were attached to the rest of him, they moved as he commanded and when he curled his fingers he could feel his nails digging into his palm.

So he could control them and feel them but they weren't his hands. He supposed they were about the right size and they shared the same colour skin - from what he could see of his collarbone anyway, but they weren't _his._

The gloves he was wearing covered his palms but they were fingerless, and he could clearly see the small, thin scars that _weren't_ there anymore or the callouses that he had built up.

Heck even his _nails_ were different; no longer bitten through from stress and grief and _what on Earth am I doing?.!_ No, they were short but perfectly rounded with a smooth edge.

Before he could look any closer however, Harry just about got blown over when someone - a player - ran full force into him, barely stopping to throw a word to him as the teen waved apologetically and continued on his way.

'Scusi!' The boy had called. What language had that been? Harry knew it wasn't French, that he'd recognise from Fleur and her sister. It couldn't be German or Russian...

Regardless, perhaps it was better that he moved his arse out of the - what had Dudley called it? The... _Spawning_ Point? What did that even mean? Weird techno babble...

Still though, this place was beautiful. Harry had never quite seen anywhere like it as he stepped out of **The Room Of Resurrection** (wasn't that name just cheery?) And out into what he believed was called **Aincrad.**

It was no real wonder Dudley was raving about this place: it seemed like something out of a dream, with its bright colourful skies and peaceful scenery that looked like it belonged in a different universe.

There was just so _much_ to see that Harry could probably start running, and never reach the end of SAO. A somewhat scary prospect for him, since he was used to more...confined spaces.

Still, he couldn't complain too much. Somewhere like this...he wouldn't have problems with his magic, if it all stayed like this.

Looking around, Harry shouldered himself through the crowds of...players and sat himself down on one of the benches, that were settled around a fountain that lay in the courtyard of the **The Room Of Resurrection**.

So many players bustling about without a care in the world, all looking so happy and...free. Harry could feel his face cringe and he wondered if he had even come close, to _ever_ feeling an inch of emotion they exuded now.

No. Not a moment in his life.

That's probably why he was so...surprised with Dudley, because he had been kind. Treated Harry like a _person._ Not like the Wizards and Witches that either loved him or hated him for both the same reasons. No, Dudley looked at him with a constipated expression of worry, but _smiled_ and talked to him without animosity.

It was why Harry had agreed to putting on the Nervegear at all. Merlin knows no other Magical Creature would allow something to mess with their heads, never mind a _Muggle_ something that their magic could (quite be accident) make go _Boom._

' _Har -_ Cousin!' The voice is the only thing Harry recognises as he turns to the left and sees a player waving, arm in the air and trying to fit through the gaps to Harry. As he gets closer, Harry thinks he might recognise Dudley around the eyes but finds that he can't recall the "Handle" either.

Harry stands to met Dudley half way and tries to glance at the side of Dudley's new head, where there should be...

There!

 **Decha_Lv.01_HP10**

...No wonder he couldn't remember it! That was so weird! Was it even English? And was he meant to pronounce it like he read it, or were there silent letters?

'What'd you do...hit your face with the keyboard?' Harry couldn't help but snark. Dudley's smile turned confused quickly until Harry pointed in the vague direction of the ID gauge.

And wasn't it strange? Harry knew he was looking at his cousin but he didn't _see_ his cousin. It was like that one time he had used Polyjuice (and the less he thought about that the better).

Dudley had made some odd changes, like giving himself a shallower jaw and black hair. His bone structure was different too, like his cheeks and the shape of his ears. Dudley's bodyguard figure was also a lot more streamline, though his overall body hadn't been altered much.

(Dudley definitely wasn't the pig he remembered, having trimmed down and bulked up with muscle from boxing. Harry had tried very hard to get used to the "new" Dudley, but this Avatar was even more to the extreme...)

His not-so-blond cousin crosses his arms over his chest, his gray eyes squinting up to where Harry knew his own ID would be, obviously looking for a retort but coming up short as he read the Handle that Harry regretted.

'...Choice?' Dudley read aloud in puzzlement but from his tone Harry knew that something had clicked, he just didn't have all the pieces to work it out.

'It doesn't matter.' Harry told him shortly and was grateful when Dudley only stared for a moment, before nodding.

Harry didn't know _what_ he had been thinking when he had typed in "Choice," just that he had been feeling pretty uninspired when Dudley had told him he couldn't use "Harry," because that was personal information (and _that_ had led Harry down the road of _Dudley_ giving him a talk on internet safety).

He had immediately thought of "The-Boy-Who-Lived" and "The Chosen One"; the only other names he had ever been known by, and before he realised what exactly he was doing, Harry had moved onto selecting a password. The Username box filled in with a name of something he had never had.

A choice.

Oh sweet, _dark_ irony.

Now the problem: he had no way to explain such an odd name without going into the whole bloody, backstory.

'Okay.' Dudley sighed, clearly frustrated but somewhat understanding (which is more than Harry deserved). 'Okay, well, since we're caught up with each other's names, how about adding each other?'

That was obviously a term of some sort, but it was lost on Harry.

'...Adding?'

Dudley's eyebrow twitched but he thankfully refrained from commenting. 'Every player has a Friend's List.' He said as his right hand lifted into the air and gestured. Like magic the movement brought up what must have been the Menu. 'Its like...Mum's contact book. You know, the one by the landline in the hall?'

Did he ever. Aunt Petunia must have had the whole neighbourhood in that thing.

Dudley pulled Harry over to see his Menu clearly, almost tucking Harry into his side. There was a line of icons that presented themselves in an ordered fashion. Different options appeared in front of Dudley with a few tabs in the air, that Harry didn't have a hope to understand, with many of words going over his head.

'Watch what I do, Ha- _Choice._ ' Dudley quickly corrected himself as he started to try and show Harry how to navigate through the Menu Options but he couldn't follow well.

Harry almost jumped out of his skin when a popup appeared in front of him. It sort of looked like floating glass with words pressed inside, but he understood that it was an in-game screen (things like that had been touched upon in the instructions of SAO).

 **Decha Sends A Friend Request.**

 **Do You Accept?**

 **O - X**

Harry looked at it in bemused and cringed when Dudley sighed. 'You tap on the circle to accept and the cross to deny.' He informed, exasperation clear as day and Harry quickly pressed the blue circle.

'Whats the deal about Friend Lists then? Why do you have to...make it official?' Harry asked, if just to try and change the subject from his own stupidity.

It didn't help much as Dudley was frowning again, it was small but Harry couldn't help but feel dumber. 'Friends Lists aren't like that.' He started, 'it all changes depending on the game but being on someone's Friends List comes with a lot different advantages.'

Harry swallowed a bit. 'Like what?' He knew that this was just a game, and he likely _hadn't_ just sold his soul but there was no controlling the unease that rolled over him.

Dudley didn't seem to notice. 'Well, being someone's friend will let you see if someone's online, check their location on the Map, sometimes show you their Status, and you can instantly send them mail.' He rattled off, but Harry only had little concept for what half of it meant. 'That sort of thing. It really just makes playing the game with others easier, instead of having to manually track down a player down in the system.'

Harry felt himself relax a bit. 'So its no big deal?'

'I used the word "advantage" deliberately, Ha - Choice.' Dudley responded as he closed his Menu. Harry thought he looked...worried, but he couldn't be sure if that was the right way to explain it. 'Being able to know your location and Status can be used against you for bad results in a game like SAO.'

'Okay...but its not like that can really do anything.'

With a sigh, Dudley rubbed the back of his neck. 'Look I know it doesn't seem very important to you because its "just" a game and with everything thats - well, with everything.' He pointed trailed off. Whether it was because anyone around them could hear, or he didn't want to hurt Harry's feeling, Harry didn't know.

'But you've got to be careful with who you interact with.'

This was starting to sound ominous and Harry shifted from one foot to the other (another strange thing, as Harry had been struggling with phantom pains in his left leg since The Battle of Hogwarts. Selfishly, he thought it was a relief that it was gone.)

'Why so serious? Its not like we can take any real damage, right?'

Dudley made an odd sound at the back of his throat and struggled for a second, until he heavily brought his hands down a top Harry's shoulders. 'Remember when I was trying to tell you why you couldn't share IRL information?' Harry hesitantly nodded. 'I said that the world was a big place - and I know, I know you've probably seen the worse of it - but theres more bad men then you realise, and you can't quite understand why even giving your entire full name could lead to.'

'Voldemort -'

'That guy was a terrorist and I don't doubt that you're a good judge of character. You had me pegged from five.' Harry tried to refute this but he was cut off again. 'But you're used to _evil_ and _mad_ not necessarily _bad_ and _sick._ I've never had to meet the..."people" that did what they did to you but there are different types out there, and while you're looking for _that_ kind, you might miss the more ordinary, cuz you're not used to it.'

Harry's chagrin increased and he couldn't help but feel smaller at this moment, with Dudley and all his experience of the Muggle World, talked at him about things he was never taught.

'PKers for example are players that will go out of their way to kill others. And yeah, I know that you can't actually die but that doesn't mean you should let yourself be targeted. You can lose items and experience if you get killed, half the reason they do it.'

'...Grave robbers?'

'More or less. Some PKers just like PKing.' Dudley said nonchalantly. 'And then you have more dangerous sickos. The type that'll want to be your friend and soon enough they have your full name and address.'

Did that really matter? Sure it was a breach in security but there was still a lock and a door, in front of anyone with bad intentions...

'People have been _murdered_ because they trusted someone over the internet. Murdered or...well...' Dudley stopped himself, uncomfortably. 'The important thing is, is that you never really know who you're talking to. You've _got_ to be careful, Choice, especially since you're not exactly in your...element.'

Harry couldn't help but snort at that last bit. 'Nicely put, De.'

Dudley let out a deep growl. 'I let you pick your Handle and your Avatar for a reason, Cousin. It wasn't just because I wanted you doing something other than chores.' Dudley stated in annoyance. 'I did it because I wanted you to get that in FullDive you aren't _you._ You are who you created.'

'Very philosophical. Didn't know you had it in you.'

'I'm _serious,_ Choice.' And yeah, Harry could tell that. 'Look, I'd say this even if we were playing any RPG but we're not. SAO is the first VRMMO. Players aren't just controlling their Avatars on computer screens. They _are_ the Avatar. Its completely different.'

'Okay, okay.' Harry tried to appease, raising his hands in defence. 'I'm sorry I'm such a thick headed Wizard.' He said as he knew that Dudley was fond of teasing about that. 'I'll try to remember but cut me some slack, this is a completely different World to me - and you know I'm not talking about **Aincrad**. It'll take a while before I know the ins and outs.'

'Just don't take too long.' Dudley warned. 'I kinda get it but I also get the feeling that after what happened you just don't take..."normal" people very seriously anymore, which is...well, its dumb. Without that stick of yours, you're no different, which means we can be just as capable doing terrible things as _they_ are even without the mojo.'

Harry didn't need to be told who "they" were or that he had been acting a bit ignorant since he had returned to the Muggle World. Harry didn't even realise that he hadn't been considering a Muggle a threat.

Was Pure-blood supremacy contagious?

He needed to get off his high horse. Merlin what was wrong with him?!

Harry ran his hands over his face, tired and feeling too young to be so fucking _old._

'Yeah.' Harry agreed sincerely and Dudley must have noticed the change, because his hands slowly fell away, leaving no trace on this very odd body, that they had been there to start with. 'Yeah, yeah I'm sorry. Really. I think its just because I've been away so long...'

'Don't worry about it. You're the baby cousin for a reason.'

'Oh shut up and show me how to work this blasted world before I log out.'

* * *

Harry spent the afternoon - or early morning as it was for their time, allowing Dudley to teach him the ins and outs of the game. Merlin, was there a lot to know. If he ever heard a Wizard say that Muggle's were useless without magic he was forcing a Nervegear over their heads.

This place is so...complicated but it was also wonderful with its three dimensional rules and themes, and _people._

Dudley had shown him around **Starting City** and around the markets to look for some cheap weaponry and gear. Neither of them could afford much with the amount of **Cor** (in game currency,) they had been given to start them off with.

In the end Dudley simply bought a Broadsword and a Wooden Shield, apparently wanting to play up the "Strength Stat" but Harry took longer looking at the different types of swords, though there admittedly weren't that many. Something about it being the first floor, and what they were selling wouldn't last long because they'd outgrow it quickly being at such a low Level.

That had made some sense but Harry still spent twenty minutes to pick out a Bronze Sword, a Knife and than a Wooden Staff. It was honestly nice to see some variety when the game obviously wanted to emphasise swords.

Dudley had simply laughed at him when he had brought more than one weapon, but had surprisingly let it go quickly with only a few comments about selecting Skill Slots.

They had also gotten some Potions (which amused Harry) that would restore Ten Points worth of Health (which would only be useful while they hadn't Levelled Up), and a Transport Crystal each (for "just in case" Dudley had said).

All done and just about on their last **Cor** , Dudley had taken him back to a bench to show him how to "Equip" the weapon he wanted to use. He had chosen to start with the staff simply because Dudley was already using a sword, and if they were fighting as a unit the staff would give him more reach should they need to fall back.

(Mad-Eye's training hadn't just included the paranoid Auror beating the crap out of him, it had a lot do to with strategising too. And a lesson from Mad-Eye, is a lesson learnt. Painfully.)

Once Harry had the hang of it and could Equip and Un-Equip a weapon without instruction, they were all set and Dudley was dragging him from **Starting City** and out into the wild, which was just as stunning as the rest of what he had seen.

Though Harry had gotten a shock when a boar had materialised right in front of them, Dudley had shown him that was one of the "mean cyber monsters," that Aunt Petunia wanted Dudley protected from.

That had started a session of Follow The Leader whereby Dudley showed him how to defeat the unfortunate boars, and Harry tried to copy him. He hadn't been too successful until Dudley had started to explain Sword Skills and how to activate them.

(' _You have to get into the correct position for Sword Skill - the correct position changes for each Sword Skill and weapon - and than wait until its activating to attack.'_ Dudley had said _.'Sword Skills are a lot more powerful, and deal a lot more damage than regular attacks.'_

' _Then why did you tell me not to use one if theres not a good opening, at first? And what if, like now, I'm not using a sword? Can I still use a Skill?'_

' _Yeah, all weapons have Skills for them, even your avatar can learn Skills, like cooking or agility. And to answer your first question, b_ _ecause Sword Skills or just Skills in general have tics. After performing them theres two immediate disadvantages: one. You can't move out of position you had to go into, to activate it.'_

' _What?.! For how long?'_

' _A few seconds but in a fight -'_

' _That's enough to lose your head.'_

' _Right. Two. The Skill you used will go into whats called a "Cooling Off" period were you can't use it again for some time; the more powerful the Sword Skill the longer you have to wait. Of course you can use other Sword Skills if you have them but...'_

' _They're a commodity then, I get it.')_

Harry had used a simple Slant Skill that he could still perform with his staff, even if it wasn't a sword. Harry could just see a tear appear on the boar as he sped past it, but couldn't really turn his head - frozen in the Skills mechanics as he was, and yeah horrible disadvantage it was - and he wasn't freed until his feet skidded back onto the ground from his running jump.

It was simply a competition on who could defeat the most after that. Harry wasn't sure who had defeated more by the time the field was empty, just that they were both tired - it was probably morning, their time now - and flopped side by side on the grass, looking up to the orange painted sky.

Harry squinted at what looked to be dragons flying in the distance. He snorted softly; if a Pure-Blood saw this they'd like have a heart attack.

'Is that what they look like in your World?' Dudley asked quietly from his side, his arms laid out above his head and his legs stretched out.

Harry blinked in surprising before looking back at what appeared to be heard of them. 'I can't tell much from this distance.' He admitted, even though he had been up close and person with one, he was hardly an authority on the beasts. 'From what I can see, not really: the ones I've been around had different flying patterns.'

Dudley laughed through a yawn. 'Suppose we can't get everything right.'

Harry shrugged. 'You lot do a better job at interpreting a World that you either don't know exists, or don't believe in, than we do when _we_ can flit in-between.' He couldn't help but scowl a bit at the thought. Even Dumbledore with as Pro-Muggleborn as he was, really knew little about what it actually _meant_ to be Muggleborn and made no effort to either.

'Its pretty funny really.' But it really wasn't. 'As intolerable as they accuse you lot of being, I see the same attitudes there, with their stuck up noses and their eyes unwilling to even _look_ at what could be, if your World and mine were to come together.'

Harry was somewhat mortified to feel tears clog his eyes - though they didn't exactly sting like they would in real life. He didn't know he _could_ cry in SAO, and grit his teeth and tried to glare them away.

At the end of the day, it didn't even matter that he had defeated Voldemort (' _Killed him, Harry!' 'What is_ wrong _with you?! Why did you have to end it in more bloodshed?!')_ nothing had really changed. The Wizarding World was saved from a war but they wouldn't go about fixing themselves to make sure another Tom Riddle wasn't born. The circle would continue.

'Ha - Choice...' Dudley had propped himself up to look at him in concern.

Harry couldn't look at him and bitterly wondered if Dudley would still be worried if he had seen - seen just the type of monster, he could be.

'I think I'm getting a bit tired, De.' Harry stated instead and sat up. 'I'm gonna go ahead.' With a flick of his wrist his Menu faithfully un-scrolled for him. He peered at it for a moment, looking down the different icons; from the top that had a silhouette head (for Equipping, he remembered) to the bottom, that appeared to be the picture of a clog.

He tapped it.

 **Options.**

 **Help.**

He frowned. He was sure the Log Out button was...

Turning to Dudley who was watching him cautiously, he pointed to his Menu. 'Er, I can't find it?'

With a great suffering sigh, Dudley's chin briefly bent low enough to meet his armour plated chest. Opening his own Menu, Harry watched over his shoulder as he selected the same icon he had, with the same results.

There was no Log Out button.

Dudley's expression turned troubled and he quickly stood, Harry following not a second after as Dudley touched for the GameMaster, which opened another window of a cartoon character that appeared as an old man with beard and robe, but didn't do anything else but emit a ripple effort from its centre. It could be "Loading" Harry thought.

'Whats the matter? Has something gone wrong?' Harry asked as his heart beat in his ears.

'Yeah, sort of.' Dudley muttered in distraction. 'The Log Out options gone. Which is very bad, since I read in the Manual that there was no other way to do it. I'm trying to get hold of the GameMaster; he's an AI - er, a computer with...free thought, sorta - that'll be able to help, but he's not -'

Dudley was obviously a little panicked as he thumbed the button a few more times, but nothing changed and Harry's unease grew as the glowing sun was suddenly covered by looming clouds, darkening the small amount of peace Harry had managed to find.

'What does that mean? We're not stuck are we?' Harry tried to keep his voice level but that was very difficult as unease evolved into something darker.

'I don't know.' Dudley's answer did not fill Harry with confidence. 'It depends on how long its been a problem: if its been missing since the launch than it should already be fixed...'

'So why hasn't it?' Harry knew little about Muggle things despite having spent the majority of his life living as one, so he was more than confused and useless, if something like this went wrong.

Dudley stared at the screen with the still GameMaster. 'Well, its a pretty serious problem.' He breathed. 'Players have no control over their bodies once they've put on the Nervegear. Not being able to Log-Out also means not being to Reconnect with our bodies.'

Harry was never without some sort of caution or fear, so he knew what it tasted like even as his "Avatar." Bitting his lip, he wondered if he could make it bleed. 'D-De m-my magic, what -'

His consciousness had never been _outside_ of his body, so he had also never been disconnected from his magic. A few hours, Harry hadn't thought could do much damage but - but -

And suddenly panic was there too, because Harry knew of the Wizards and Witches that didn't use their magic; heard about how their Cores became unstable, resulting in explosions and insanity and -

'Calm down. _Harry,_ you need to calm down.'

Dudley was shaking him. Why was Dudley shaking him?

'If they can't fix it than they can just Shut Down the Servers and Log players out that way. We aren't stuck. Theres nothing wrong with your magic.' Dudley was telling him. 'Theres nothing wrong with _you_ but you need to breathe and you need to settle down.'

Harry had never been good at being told what to do but found himself sucking in a desperate breath, staring into his cousin's slightly wide eyes and wishing - _wishing_ more than anything that they weren't _his_ shade of gray.

Gradually Harry relaxed and all but slumped into Dudley's chest. 'Sorry.' He whispered in exhaustion.

That had been an...over-reaction but he was still so round up from the war...

Dudley was awkwardly petting his back when a gong sounded, cutting through the calm and Harry's even breathing but loud. It continued to ring, perhaps a bell, though it clung like a funeral march; a send off for the damned.

Harry looked up to Dudley's confused face, stepping back slightly. 'What -?'

Not even finished speaking and white encompassed his vision, until Harry could see nothing - not even himself. Briefly, his body felt like it was floating with light pins and needles spreading through his limbs before his was back at Dudley's side.

Blinking back the lights in his eyes, Harry looked around to realise that they were no longer in the training meadow; that they had moved back into the square of the **Starting City.**

'We've been transported.' Dudley told him tensely, the arm that had remained his back tightening so Harry allowed himself the comfort; something that had been rarely offered to him and tips himself just that bit closer.

If asked he'd blame the fact that it looked like they were just two of ten thousand, which they could very well be if _everyone_ had been brought here too.

'Maybe they've brought us here for an announcement?'

A reasonable suggestion if the forced teleportation hadn't sounded like the rustle of Doxy wings.

Harry's right hand twitches when a mechanical sound from above alerts them to the flashing text box above **The Room Of Resurrection,** in the sky.

 **Warning.** blinks in and out, the colour red.

That...doesn't sound good, Harry thinks as he tenses; ready to move, fight, _run._

He gets the chance to do neither as that one sign multiples into many: splintering the sky over their heads and creating a dome of crimson that leaks blood through its lines. That morphs into something more horrific as the blood starts to droop, forming a sack like a cyst.

Harry feels numbly sick. He can barely stand the sight of blood with how much of it he had seen, from both enemies and friends a like. Fake or not, his mind remembers all the other places he's seen it.

Hermione's busted lip.

Ginny's scraped hands.

Ron's broken, bitten leg.

Fleur's _everything_ and Cedric's beaten up corpse.

And then in The War where _everyone_ was hurt and bleeding and dying.

 _Stop it._ Harry tells himself. _Shut up._

He has to pay attention. _Pay attention!_

The disgusting thing wasn't done transforming as a humanoid form emerges. A character wearing a cloak not unlike something Harry would see in the Wizarding World. Their body is indistinguishable from male or female but that's not what makes his breath catch.

Theres no face.

They have no _face_.

Just black and smoke that evaporates like purple mist from under the hood.

This - this _Avatar_ is like a giant among ants. A God among mortals as flashes of lightning spark off their cloak caused by its generation, blood still dripping. Still red.

'De...' Harry breaths and he can't help but feel scared: he's _powerless_ here.

Dudley rubs his back and like him, doesn't turn away from the Avatar overhead.

' _Player Chupon.'_ The Avatar announces as he opens his arms and oh. _Oh_ no. That's - how are they meant to understand -?

'Choice.' Dudley whispers, pointing to the twin windows that had opened up in front of them. Harry's hesitant to look away from something that appeared like such a threat, but glanced down at his own screen for a moment only to double take.

 **Attention Players.** It read and the more the Avatar spoke, the more words appeared: a translator then? **I welcome you to my world. My name is Akihiko Kayaba and as of this moment, I am in control of this world.**

Harry thought back to earlier this day, when Dudley had been saying how he was a good judge of character. Right at this moment, he hoped he wrong when his senses kicked up and told him to run. To get away.

 **I'm sure most of you have noticed an item missing from your Main Menus: the Log-Out button.** Kayaba comments almost conversationally, politely. **Let me assure you this is not a defect in the game.**

No.

 **I repeat: this is** _ **not**_ **a defect. This was how Sword Art Online was designed to be.**

'Dudley?' Harry didn't care about personal information or internet safety, Harry wanted answers.

Dudley looks disturbed and almost staggers back an inch at Harry's voice. 'I - I swear I didn't - I didn't know about -'

 **You cannot Log yourselves out of SAO.** The subtitles continued and as much as Harry wanted to understand, he'd do anything for them to disappear. **And no one from the outside will be able to shut down or remove the Nervegear from your head.**

 _What?_ But how was that _possible?_

 **If anyone attempts to do so, a transmitter inside the Nervegear will discharge a microwave signal into your skull; destroying your brain and** _ **ending**_ **your life.**

'He can't be serious can he? He can't really do that can he?' Harry asked desperately but Dudley looks _devastated_ and without words Harry understood that this was no sick hoax.

'T-theres a transmitter inside the Nervegear that barely passes EU laws, so SAO nearly didn't make England. Its not unlike a microwave without the safety. If it were disabled...'

Harry couldn't swallow but his heart was beating so fast that his vision was palpitating. 'B-but Aunt Petunia could - could just pull the plug right?'

Slowly, Dudley shook his head. 'The Nervegear have an internal battery...remember?'

Harry's eyes widened. Yes, yes he did. Thats why Dudley had been forced to sit at his desk. Thats why Harry had laid himself out on the bed.

 **Despite my warning, the families and friends of some of the players have attempted removing the Nervegear. An unfortunate decision to say the least.**

 _Unfortunate?_

And that made cold fury ignite in his belly. To hear someone talk so...easily about deaths that _he_ were accountable for.

 _Unfortunate?!_

 **As a result the game now has two hundred and thirteen less players than when it began.**

 _Two hundred and thirteen?_ Harry's head screamed and suddenly his legs grew weak because this was - this was turning out to be _real._ Terrible and real and - and trying to take off the Nervegear sounded _just_ like something the Dursleys would do.

If they heard the morning news at all they would start with him...To make sure it was safe for Dudley. They'd start with him because the Dursley's didn't like to listen - didn't like to be told what to do, even at the detriment of others.

Oh Merlin. Surviving his fucked up childhood, Dumbledore's manipulations and a war to be killed by a Muggle game? The Malfoy's will be laughing over his grave.

 **They've been deleted from both Aincrad and the real world.**

" _Deleted?"_ Harry thought numbly, _How...clinical...how detached._

His eyes that were flickering from the screen to Kayaba, stuck on the Kayaba when boxes appeared around him, encircling him. It was hard to see from here but it looked like...

 _Oh,_ sweet _Merlin._

It was news articles and TV footage from around the world.

 **As you can see, international media outlets have round the clock coverage of** _ **everything,**_ **including the deaths.**

'What time is it back home?' Dudley whispers.

Automatically Harry responds: 'Two in the morning...'

Maybe he had longer to live after all? Aunt Petunia wouldn't be up at that hour, right? She valued her beauty sleep to go along with her perfect live. Seven hours might not seem like much but...but it was more than nothing, right?

 **At this point, its safe to assume the likely hood of the Nervegear being removed is minimal at best.**

Harry was used to Dumbledore talk, so he knew a "better get used to this new, life-threatening situation" when he heard one. Kayaba was playing it cool; telling them there was no chance of escape.

 **I hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game.**

'Comfort?' Harry echoed dully.

 **Its important you remember the following.** Kayaba told them. **There is no longer any way to revive someone within the game.**

 _No._

 **If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be deleted from the system,** _ **forever.**_ **And the Nervegear will simultaneously destroy your brain.**

 _NO! Nonononononononono!_ Harry didn't _want_ another bloodbath! He couldn't be apart of it again. Not another war, not after the last one. Not after giving his all for a World that didn't give two damns about him.

 **There is only one way for a player to escape now: you must clear the game.** Cold, unemotional letters told him, translated from a cold, unemotional voice. **Right now you're gathered on Floor 1. The lowest Level of Aincrad. If you can get through the Dungeon and defeat the Boss, you may advance to the next floor. Defeat the boss on Floor 100 and you will clear the Game.**

Floor _100?!_ But - but that would take... _months - years!_ What would happen to their bodies while they where stuck in SAO?! What would happen to his magic?

Oh. Oh no. What would happen if his magic short circuited the Nervegear?

 **Last but not least, I placed a little present in the Item Storage of every player.** Kayaba told them. **Please, have a look.**

Without thought, Harry opened his Menu and found his Storage: one Item inside.

 **Mirror**

Harry blinked. Cute. _What was this supposed to do?_ Harry thought despondently. _Show us our souls?_

Really, Harry should have known better then to select it but not a second later a hand-mirror was falling into his palm. Looking at the reflection he saw the avatar he had created: he hadn't really been bothered with what it looked like, and ended up playing around with it.

He regretted that, now. He was going to die with a face that wasn't his.

Just like Voldemort.

Harry had slimmed his lips and stretched out his ears just for the heck of it. He had shortened his hair, almost shaving it back to expose a forehead clear of Curse-scar and changed the colour to purple. His cheek bones hadn't been safe either from his random clicking of the mouse.

The more he looked, the less Harry wanted to see and had just averted his gaze when he saw Dudley - and a number around them - went up in white light, with a blue undertone: sparkles shooting out making it look like a firework gone wrong. Before he could get worried however, he had disappeared too.

When Harry had reopened his eyes, the brightness was gone but he felt a bit disoriented as he looked to his side and flinched back. 'De?!' He exclaimed to see his cousin staring back at him. Not his cousin's avatar but his _cousin._

Strawberry blond, blue eyed, bodybuilder Dudley.

'Ha - _Choice?_ '

Harry barely remembers to nod as he looks just above his cousin's head to cheek the ID gauge, only to find even _that_ was different as well.

 **Decha** was the only information he could see now, with a small green Health bar that no longer gave its exact number.

Glancing back into the Mirror, Harry found _his_ face staring back at him: flat ears, high cheekbones, almond green eyes, black hair. He didn't know if it was a relief or not.

'But - but how could it know what -' lost for words, Harry looked between Dudley and the Mirror.

Dudley seemed to think for a minute before his jaw unhinged a bit. 'Ha - Choice! Do you remember that Start-up scan I warned you about? I told you to close your eyes for the first flash but that you had to open them and stay still for the next thirty seconds?'

All too soon the memory was brought to Harry and he nodded. 'Well I didn't really explain, because I didn't think you'd get it but that was a high density scan from a signal device inside the Nervegear rig.'

'Um...'

'It can see what you looked like.' Dudley elaborated

Harry looks down at himself. 'And my body? Because that looks pretty familiar too.'

'You had to touch yourself up right? I just thought it was a calibration type deal but it was obviously to gather your height and body type.'

Harry stared and couldn't help but think _but, why?_ It was obvious that this wasn't going to be the game everyone thought it was, but it was still a game. Why did what they looked like matter in the end?

Why so much effort? It didn't make any _sense._ There was no purpose behind this aside Kayaba's overinflated sense of self.

 **Right now, your probably wondering why.** The writing responded to Harry's dialogue. **Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art Online and Nervegear, do this?**

 **Ultimately my goal was a simple one.** Kayaba told them. **The creation of Sword Art Online was to control the fate of a world of my design.**

 **As you can see, I have achieved my goal.** And how on Earth could he call _this_ a goal?! Two-Hundred and thirteen innocent people were dead! **This marks the end of the tutorial and the official launch of Sword Art Online.**

His parting words were delivered in the same tone as what his earlier monologue had been: **Players, I wish you the best of luck.**

Like the mist that steamed from his hood, Kayaba's body simple dissolved until the robes emptied and the clothe returned to blood, that seeped back into the gaps of the ceiling.

With little more than a blink, the dome of red was gone and the tranquil sunset was returned to normal; to its pervious state before Akihiko Kayaba appeared and started to speak of his "perfect world."

Unnatural silence had settled now and no one out of thousands moved a muscle; every player no doubt waiting around to be told it was a joke, a trick. But Harry knew it wasn't, could tell with every inch of his - _this_ , being that everything Kayaba had said, was true.

This was real.

This was no game.

No one was going home.

And, it was likely, that everyone was going to die.

Hysteria broke out with a single cry and soon chaos rained. Like the London Tubes at Rush Hour, players were moving against each other, shouting; screaming; crying; pushing, shoving like they could somehow find an exit from someone else's back.

Not good. Not good at all. Even if they all spoke the same language and were from the same place, there would be no more talking to day. These players were past being rational, and who was Harry to them? Not The Chosen One. He had no influence here, he was no one.

If he behaved himself, he wouldn't even be "Harry" here.

Taking an elbow to the gut, Harry knew they couldn't stay here. He had witnessed mass-panic before, in Hogwarts, when the attack happened; when the war had hit home. It hadn't been pretty and they had even lost some students falling down the Enchanted Stair cases...

Mind made up he graphed hold of his Dudley's hand and pulled. Harry didn't know if he was stronger in the game as Dudley jerked forward, but didn't think it was all that important as he flicked open the Map from his Menu.

 **Starting City** was obviously the dot in the centre of Floor 1, and he was the pulsing smaller red dot, so...going to the closet other landmark would take them...south-west. South-East looked like the better choice long term but it was even further then the only other town, and he didn't want to take any ricks so soon, especially not with Dudley.

'Ha - Choice!' Dudley called from behind, as Harry pulled him through player after player and tight squeeze after tight squeeze. 'What are you doing?! Where are we going?!'

Harry could feel his feet hitting the floor but none of his muscles or their strain they'd have, if this were real. His bum leg wouldn't be able to take this exercise either, it'd have given up on him by now.

He looked over his shoulder at his cousin who seemed to struggle to keep up at such a pace, but who wasn't out of breath. 'We can't stay here! There're too many people! Even if we didn't get trampled on, panic makes people violent.' He shouted over the noise but even then he could barely hear himself.

'That's not how SAO works!' Dudley shouted back without thinking. 'People can't just start a brawl! I mean - a player could _try_ but Towns are Safe-Zones; you can't lose HP in them, and the attack would get a **Cardinal** Warming for Misconduct!'

Harry didn't know what that meant and he didn't care. They weren't staying here. A part from the market, it just seemed to have a lot of European housing. That and the Low Level Monsters... The only way but presumably Dungeons, they had to Level Up. No. Staying here would not help them.

Kayaba wanted the game cleared or everyone dead.

Staying at what was obviously considered to be but a prologue would do them no good.

They had to _move._

'I don't think the - the **Cardinal** cares about our safety right now!' Harry calls and while Dudley's face takes on a bit ill tinge, he didn't say anything to deny it. 'I know you're the expert on games, Dud - De.' as he slows their gait in an empty, out of the way alley and tells himself to keep to the nickname. Dudley says IRL information is a no-go, so Harry would compromise. He could just say that "De" was short for "Decha."

'And I'll listen to all your instructions.' Harry promised as he gripped Dudley's hand to the limit in which he could; the limit in which the game let him. 'But _I'm_ the expert at _staying alive_ and until Aunt - my Aunt pulls the plug on my Nervegear or I get cut down, I'm going to protect you, but you've got to _let_ me. Do you understand?'

The echoes of distress and horror are a flutter in the distance. But Harry can't always concentrate on _everybody else_. He has before and he knows that all he's got to show for it are scars and nightmares.

Death was a friend, battle a distant relative with the monster he came because of both, his twin.

Harry knew how to handle this.

'Okay.' Dudley uttered eventually and squeezed his hand back. '...you really are my bodyguard after all...huh?'

'Even Aunt - your mother can be right sometimes.' Harry tries to answer with as much humour as he can, because Dudley can't get panicked here. Fear - fear was fine. Fear kept a person fast, kept them on-guard. But they needed their wits about them.

Dudley's eyes - so very human and so very vulnerable, are glittering but staring straight at Harry and for some reason in that moment he can see his Mum crying, pleading but still looking Him in the eye as His wand glows green, husband dead downstairs.

'Together then.' Dudley says with a shaky voices but he steps forward until their side by side, the joined hands between them. 'Lead the way, Choice.'

They held each other's gaze and for the first time, came to a single understand of life, and to keep living. Harry nodded and ran again, carrying Dudley with him - ran as fast as he could; as if Voldemort and - and Kayaba were on his heels, and continued to follow the Map.

If this _was_ a game it only meant that Harry needed to give himself more rules. More restrictions so he never lost himself like last time; like the first time and the times that followed. He couldn't do that here, because he had felt something when he was defeating those boars.

Harry had realised that he had felt _nothing_ while his staff ran through them. Nothing but the pressure that accumulated behind his arms, like that was meant to represent that creature's mass.

But there was no _weight_. It had been like a knife through warm butter: little resistance, clean and smooth.

It hadn't been like the first time he had picked up the Gryffindor's Sword, hands - young hands groping the gold hilt from a ratty old hat before he used his entire _body_ to thrust forward the blade, through the Basilisk's jaw; its tough gum, its rock brain and steel skull while its mammoth head twitched in shock.

Nor the last time he had touched the weapon.

When Neville - brave, dependable Neville (who had barely blinked at Harry who was splattered with blood and covered in ash, because he had seen the _horrors_ of the world, and its people and _understood_ ) threw him Gryffindor's Sword once more to again drive it home.

He had been on his knees, weakened from the Killing Curse and shaking like a newborn lamb with nothing left to give but the air in his lungs. But with that sword he had, had hope which rekindled enough fire for him to cut through robe and skin, chest-bone and through Voldemort's black heart.

Hot blood had splattered over him and it had taken everything Harry had to keep his grip, keep his stance and look Voldemort in his titian eyes and be strong enough to watch the _life_ leave them.

In SAO there had been none of that.

Which might be good for Harry's soul but that only really meant that it made it _easier,_ which it should never be. Ever.

Dumbledore thought he was reckless and without thought of his actions. Gryffindor he was, but Harry was not, nor had has he _ever_ been, heedless .

And here with his cousin - the only family he had left in this life that accepted him - and where someones very _life_ was represented by a HP bar filled with numbers, he would take even less chances.

No. On his blood and sanity so be it, but this would _not_ be another Battle of Hogwarts.

Harry was not coming out of this alone.

* * *

 **Con/textual vomit:** So _phew._ Finished...I think anyway, that ending didn't lend itself very easily but for starting this chapter, right after the first I think I did pretty well and I got out all of what I wanted for the first part.

First things first, you'll probably notice I made the differences between SAO and IRL really obvious right? - For Harry at least, and thats because I really want it to _feel_ like he's not in his _actual_ body and as amazing SAO is (before you know, death and...stuff,) theres a reason Kirito mentions that food is one of their few pleasures.

I wanted there to be sensations missing, which while hard to write because it mucks up their normal responses, I really, _really_ wanted to highlight that.

So for those curious all text in bold and centred is for game messages/ mechanics. I did it this way because I really wanted it to look visually out of place, sorry if its annoying. Kayaba's speech is also in bold because right then, in _that_ Avatar, for Harry he was reading what Kayaba was saying off a translation screen that had automatically popped up: a clear game mechanic.

If Harry had been listening to Kayaba talk and had not been reading, it would have been done like any other character.

(I will of course be forcing Harry to learn Japanese, it'd be a awkward if he couldn't huh?)

I had this idea of what type of fighter I wanted Harry to be while I was designing his SAO character sheet but while I was doing it, I paused and said to myself: 'It's " _Sword_ Art Online"' and suddenly couldn't remember if there were any other types of weapons, which there are. If Kirito's old Guild is any sort of reference theres even some semblance of _classes_ which I will also be touching upon, because the anime really didn't.

I think that's it...No, hold now. I lied. You might have noticed I've made more of an emphases of the influence of Gryffindor's Sword and that's done for quite a few reasons, not just to allow Harry to relate more to SAO

1\. Wizards and Witches don't seem very...hands on. At all. Seeing someone kill a person - even a Dark Lord - by such "barbaric" means, would be impossible for them to tolerate.

2\. Harry needed the experience of being physically responsible for someones death, and also with handling an actual weapon.

I had more reasons but my insomnia isn't allowing me to remember any of them...

Oh! And The Room Of Resurrection turned out to be that memorial where all the Handle's of the people who had died would appear, if you didn't know. I didn't mention it because Harry and Dudley don't stick around long enough to find out.

So I probably need to proofread this more but I'll be out today. If this is posted I can do it while I'm out and fix mistakes tomorrow, hopefully thats good enough for you lot.

And just so theres no disappointing suspense, Harry won't be meeting Kirito until he's had some adventures of his own, learnt how to better use the game, and levelled up so Kirito won't think of Harry as weak. That, and I need to build this up a bit.

Thanks for reading!

 _ **(First Uploaded: 30/07/15) (Updated: 31/07/15, 11/10/15)**_

 **OZ**


	3. Head Packed And Heart Ready

IRL And All Realities

Chapter 3

 **Head Packed and Heart Ready.**

It's dark and cool by the time the two of them make it to the next town. The warmth of the day was gone, leaving them cold and tired in dimly lit streets. And though **Horunka** was much, _much_ smaller than **Starting City** (which was obvious, even from a glance) there was no helping their exhaustion as they stumbled upon the single Inn.

Unbelievably they had left **Starting City** roughy three in the morning, and the two of them had been travelling since. If it wasn't for the situation Harry would marvel at the _size_ of **SAO** , but all Harry could feel was unease.

Outside of the city districts the environment just _changed_ so unnaturally that it was unnerving. For two hours they had travelled through the **Forest Region** which was full of Boars and Wolves. Luckily they had gone on that slaughter earlier that day, or the two of them might have struggled with fighting the number of Monsters that kept Spawning in front of them.

 _'Just keep going Choice.'_ Dudley had told him, weary and drooping from where he had walked by his side. _'There were Posts about the First Floor. Its big; the biggest in the - in_ _ **SAO**_ _. We'll be walking for awhile.'_

 _'We could stop if you're tired, I don't mind.'_ Harry had said, worried despite his determination to get out of the open.

Dudley had shaken his head. _'We can't stay here. Never rest somewhere that_ isn't _a Safe Zone, Choice.'_

With him told, they had shortly after arrived at the entrance of the **Deep Forest** where the trees were noticeably overgrown and wild. Trying to look in further, Harry found that he couldn't as it was clouded with a dark shrewd.

 _'We could try to walk around it?'_ Harry had suggested, wanting to be as careful as possible even if they had already Levelled Up.

Again, Dudley disagreed. _'No, I remember reading about this. We can't walk around this forest. You remember that huge arse castle wall - that went around the centre of Starting City?'_

Frowning, Harry nodded. It had encircled the back of the City and had surrounded the metropolis. ' _Yeah, sure. It was hard to miss.'_

 _'Well, its meant to cut through the First Floor in a semi-circle. Someone Posted that it stops at the beginning of the Labyrinth.'_

Glancing back at the screen that held the open Map, Harry saw the problem. _'Their herding us.'_

 _'Yeah. There were loads of groans about it too. Tons of the Betas said it was annoying, but I think its been designed like that so no one can avoid Levelling Up.'_

That said, they continued their trek through the **Deep Forest** which was no cake walk. The Monster Spawns were different, and so were their attack patterns which made it all the harder.

Luckily Harry had been trained to fight and respond just as well as on no sleep and poor conditions than fully rested and on a full stomach, but Dudley had obviously never been put through Mad Eye's training program from hell and had began to stall and slow.

By the time the trees were starting to thin they were out of Potions and Dudley was dragging his feet. Seeing the City Wall was half a relief - that they might be approaching a Safe Zone, and half a worry - that they were going the wrong way, despite what the Map said and they had further to walk.

But no, the closer they approached the Wall, the bigger the drawbridge became.

They were both glad for it but they still spent _another_ two hours to finally reach " **Horunka.** " (And how the _hell_ did he pronounce _that?)_

 **Horunka** wasn't a city like **Starting** had been, and was obviously a town or even a settlement with how small and comely it was. With buildings just sort of...dotted around, there was no sort of organisation or alleys, just different buildings of different sizes.

The Inn was, _thankfully,_ the first thing they came across.

The sign attached to the Inn's stone side read: **The Petite Chateaux.** It was a large building but held all the charm of a village cottage from the plant boxes in the windows, vines decorating the walls and its painted door.

Harry was close to falling over once they approached it and stood awkwardly in front of it, quite unsure on how to proceed. A hand fell on his should and he nearly jumped away but he knew the only one around was Dudley, having left all the other players to their own panic in **Starting**.

'For public buildings like this, you just press your hand against the door and it'll open.' Dudley told him, his face flat but tight as he looked at Harry. 'If you want excess to a player's room or dwelling, you've got to knock.'

Harry nods but is slow to extend his hand; mistrusting of **SAO** and its intentions. When he does place his palm to the wood his first thought before the door automatically opens, is that the texture is wrong. Untreated wood that has not been polished has obvious granules and groves. This has nothing.

Uncomfortably Harry lowers his arm, his fingers curling to make a fist as he enters with Dudley quietly following him. They're welcomed into a rustic looking pub with a rounded counter, coasters on the top and connected pumps running along the inside, of what liquids Harry couldn't hazard a guess but he'd doubt it was actual alcohol.

There was a woman with one of those cursors hovering above her head, behind the bar. In her early twenties she was looking off into the distance, a smile fixed to her face. Seeing her and her dress with the apron that was tied around her waist and her blonde hair kept out of her face by a scarf, all Harry thought of was the "maidens" from his Muggle History class in Primary School.

Angelo Saxons wasn't it? Whatever. It had been a long time and it wasn't like the era mattered all that much.

'Um...' Harry sounded unsurely as he walked up to her. She didn't move, it didn't even look like she was breathing. 'Excuse me?'

With speed that had Harry stepping back into Dudley, she blinked and turned to look Harry in the eye.

'Choice...?' Dudley said in askance.

Her big glass eyes glanced in Dudley's direction and there was a bit of a pause before she opened her lips. 'Hello me lovelies!' She greeted. 'I'd be Madame Rosalie. What cann'ee do for youse?'

'Er...'

'She's a **NPC** , Choice. Don't worry.' Dudley reassured obviously having noticed Harry's suspicion.

' **NPC?** ' Harry questioned, never having heard the acronym before then.

' **Non-Player Character.** ' Dudley replied as if that were the answer to everything.

Harry frowned deeply. _Non_ -Player? He had been under the impression that: "player" was the term to address people in a game. What made Madame Rosalie - not? Did that mean she worked for **SAO** and therefor wasn't part of the mission to clear it, or something else entirely?

Shaking his head, they needed to press on. Who this woman was really didn't matter. Dudley would explain later. 'Me and my...friend would like a room.' Harry said. 'Please.' He added as an after thought, not feeling particularly up to being polite after the day he's had.

'For me double that'd be Ten **Cor** a piece. Interested?'

Just when Harry was about to verbally answer a screen popped up.

 **The Petite Chateaux Double Room Is Now Available.**

 **TenCor Per Night Per Player**

 **Do You Accept?**

 **O - X**

Harry sighed and glanced to the side to see the same window in front of Dudley. He hadn't even started and he was finding it...trying. Despite this he accepted, relieved that he still had enough money - **Cor** left (though that might have something to do with the amount of Monsters, that had met their end to his staff. He had lost count in the late hundreds.)

As soon as he had hit the button the screen had disappeared and not a second later, a key with a room number attached was falling out of the air and into his hand.

It took a moment before Madame Rosalie nodded and gestured to a door, that was only a few feet from the edge of the counter. It opened on its own, like it was inviting them in.

Harry didn't feel particularly welcome as he thanked the woman and went towards it, hesitantly peering in to find a staircase. The steps were wooden and steep but easy enough to climb with his now two working legs.

Once they were at the top they met a long hallway. Harry examined his room key and saw the number "5" on the small plank of wood attached. Looking to the nearest door, Harry found it was "2" and knew it was only a matter of walking down to find it.

Harry quickly found it and without thought inserted the key into the doorknob. He didn't even have to turn it for the door to start to pull away from him. Harry tensed and couldn't help but find it a bit ominous. If that had happened in the Wizarding World - well, it wasn't usually a good sign.

Dudley's hand was back and was lightly pushing him forward. 'Don't worry about it.' He reassured. 'Since things can't really be stolen in **SAO** and for someone else to get a hold of something of yours, you've either got to physically hand it to them or transfer it through the **Menu** securities pretty lax. The key's just a formality really.'

Harry nodded and as Dudley turned the light on, briefly scanned the room: another door just next to them (bathroom, most probably) two beds at the centre of the this one, headboards pushed against the wall and a nightstand between them. A picture hung on the opposite side; a painting of a field. The light above was simple and old-fashioned, with a window parallel to the door.

'Its just...a bit different.' Harry said as he made his way to the bed, and plonked himself down. He landed heavily and instantly noticed that the mattress underneath him was solid and held little give. Great.

Dudley just nodded. 'Yeah, I get that. Probably seems even stranger after spending so much time, _there,_ eh?'

Harry wordlessly agreed and waited for Dudley himself to sit before he straightened up again. 'Speaking of strange and time, we need to get our thoughts in line.'

Dudley visibly did a double take. 'Wha -?'

Harry buried the guilt because right now this was quite _literally_ a matter of life and death, and Harry - if he survived his Aunt and Uncle, when they discovered them - couldn't afford to be a hinderance. Hell even if he didn't live, he at least needed to make sure Dudley had _himself_ sorted.

'I know. Its late, we've both been walking for hours and you're tired but we need to do this _now.'_ Harry insisted, leaning forward and staring at his cousin straight in the eye. 'Times a resource we can't be sure we have. We'll sleep right after, I promise.'

Dudley blew out a fatigued breath and slumped backward. 'Okay. Okay. Start quickly before I regret listening to you.'

How typical. Really Dudley should have expected something like this from Harry, _especially_ after what he had said before they had left **Starting City** but they had been travelling for hours, and Dudley had just thought that they would be hitting the sack with the day they had, had.

But no, it was time for a meeting apparently.

'What'd you want to know?' He felt himself ask despite the pull of sleep his mind demanded from him.

'Early, when we were running,' Harry hedged slowly, as if trying to remember. 'You said something about a warning system and - and someone called...Car-something?'

Dudley blinked. Car - Oh. Hold on. 'You mean the **Cardinal**?'

Harry shrugged. 'Yeah, I think so.'

'Well, the **Cardinal** _isn't_ a person.' Dudley began carefully, unsure as to how to explain this to someone who had such a small understanding of how technology worked, while not knowing everything himself. 'Its the system **SAO** uses to manages this world's resources, events, processes.

Things like that: its the glue that holds everything together...?'

Harry paused before tilting his head and asking: 'So, its like magic?'

Taken aback, Dudley was about to deny that when Harry continued. 'In - where I was - it was archaic: with the Aristocracy on top, and the poor or... _foreign,_ at the bottom. Women, as soon as they were married would be expected to stay home for the kids. Racial tensions, were because of that - not just the war.'

Dudley felt himself frown; a pull of his brow he couldn't help as he listened to his cousin's voice, as he tried to put into words something that Dudley would never have to experience - never suffer. Not like that, not in that world.

Harry looked down to his lap unsurely. 'Magic was the only thing that really made it - that place, work. Magic was what made people act the way they did, magic decided who someone would be - what they would be.' He took a minute, as if to gather himself before continuing on in the same tone: 'And yet, if magic disappeared tomorrow, everything would fall apart.'

Dudley could vaguely hear his heartbeat in his ears and almost winced at the phantom sound, as he couldn't feel its pulse against his hollow chest or anything else for that matter. 'Yeah.' He agreed quickly, if just to forget that this wasn't his body, this wasn't real and that his cousin's pain was still all too real.

'Yeah. They're somewhat alike.' Dudley repeated, stronger that time. 'I can't really remember - was panicking a bit, but if I mentioned **Warnings** , then I must have been talking about alert system.'

It took a second for Harry to perk up from the the atmosphere that always came from talk of the Wizarding World, but the gloom remained like the shadows of the room. 'And what does that do?'

'It tells Player's when their behaviour is getting out of hand, before action is taken.' Dudley replied. 'But I'm not entirely sure about it, since the **Betas** didn't spend too much time _trying_ to get into trouble and I haven't read to much about it.'

'O-okay.' Harry said, a concerned look about him, no doubt thinking the worse. Like usual.

'Anything else?' Because Dudley was drawing a blank right now, on what Harry would need to know.

'The cursor, things.' Harry prompted. 'What are they?'

Fighting a particularly stubborn yawn, Dudley looked up to the green floating diamonds. 'They're indictors. Green is for Players - like us, but they can change colour, if we're bad. Orange for stuff like attacking another Player. Red...for PKing.'

They both grimaced at the thought. 'Monsters are red too.' Harry noted, with a certain amount of dark irony that had Dudley snort.

'Yeah - yeah they are.'

Strangely, Dudley had never thought about that, though he had played multiple RPGs. Maybe the game developers weren't as unbiased as he had thought they had been. Trust Harry to see that.

'What about the barmaid?'

Dudley jolted back to the present, 'what?'

'What about the barmaid?'

'What about her?'

'Her's was yellow.' Harry stated in slight irritation.

His confusion abruptly vanished. 'Oh! Yeah, because she's an **NPC**.' Dudley said. 'An **NPC** means an " **Non-Player Character**." She's basically a really intelligent piece of software.'

Harry's eyes widened in surprise. 'S-software?' He stuttered.

Dudley nodded, mentally hitting himself over the head for ever thinking Harry would understand what he had meant. Idiot. 'Yeah, she's a mass of data.' He confirmed. 'As in, not real - or, thats what **NPC's** have always been. With technology nowadays, they're almost as real as we are.'

It took a minute - or two, before Harry unfroze and hesitantly nodded, but Dudley could tell that little nugget of information would be bothering him for awhile.

'Can you go through the **Menu** again?'

Dudley looked back at his cousin, surprised that _that_ was the first thing Harry would go to afterwards. But it was an important, even essential part of **SAO** so he'd understand Harry wanting to understand as much about it as possible.

He got up from his own bed (no muscle ache despite the marathon, proving his theory that Player's could only get mentally tired,) and joined his cousin by Harry's side. There, Dudley flicked open his **Menu** and waited for the Icons to click into place, in a tired haze.

Dudley paused as he thought about the words he needed; gathering the bits of technological insight he had learned to make this as easy to understand as possible, but also as useful.

'Right, so you already know this is the **Menu**.' Dudley started awkwardly as Harry nodded sharply, obviously paying clear attention and annoyingly _not_ looking like he had been fighting computer generated monsters all night. 'This here.' Dudley pointed, 'is the **Summary Diagram** , where you can see your **Skill Slots** and...stuff.'

'You went through the **Skills** earlier. Are they as important as the... **Skill Slots**?'

Dudley frowned and reminded himself that Harry had never played an RPG before, and didn't have any experience with levelling systems. 'Yeah, their really important. You know how we **Levelled Up** really quickly?'

Harry nodded slightly. 'Well, thats only because we're at the starting **Levels**. The higher we get, the more time it'll take which'll mean more time to gather **Skills**.' Dudley said. 'So keep that in mind when you're getting stronger. You bought a lot of weapons earlier - and its your decision - but I'd be careful with how much time you spend on each one.'

Harry's brow lowered further, obviously in thought and didn't respond so Dudley continued with the **Menu**. 'And then in the middle, if the detail dialogue is selected, you have whats called the **Category Buttons** \- the headers.'

'The first you should know already.' Dudley pointed to the icon of the silhouetted head.

' **Equipment** , right?' Harry confirmed uneasily, which in turn discomforted Dudley: Harry needed to get this, breath it in and own it.

'Thats it.' Dudley agreed as he selected it which opened up a sub-menu to the side of it. 'This is your inventory: where all your items are stored, obviously. **Weapons** on top, **Armour** next and then **Accessories**. Be careful of that one; it can be more useful then it sounds.'

Harry tilted his head curiously, probably wondering how a necklace could do anyone any good on the battlefield. 'How so?'

'Well, in RPG's nearly everything has special **Skills**. Like the properties of armour are obviously for defence right?' Harry nodded quietly. 'So, for example, I could get an earring that enhances hearing.'

'Ah, I see.' Harry responded thoughtfully. 'Couldn't that cause...unbalance?'

Dudley shrugged at the surprising question - and yeah, it really shouldn't have; Harry had been doing shit like this IRL not that long ago. ' **SAO** was actually praised for how fair it was. That's why theres no magic: its all meant to be based around Player ability, so accessories aren't going to be OPed - er, Over Powered, I just used that as an example.'

Moving on, Dudley pointed to the sub-menu **Skills**. 'This is where all your **Skills** will be. You can **Equip** them here, or physically on the **Summary Diagrams** interface, if you do it there just press and hold on one of the twelve slots.'

'Rodger.'

'Moving down to the **Friends Category.** ' Dudley announced as he pressed on the two character profiles icon. 'This sub-menu brings up **Party** , **Friend** and **Guild**. Obviously, " **Friend** " is where you go to send an **Invite** , like I did. But this is also where you have your **Message Box** , **Position Check** and **Profile.** '

'I said it before.' Dudley started as he watched his cousin. 'But be careful with who you Befriend, got it? With the **Profile** they can watch your HP - your **Health Points** \- and while using the **Position Check** , hunt you down in a group.'

That was a more common method of Pking, though Dudley wasn't entirely sure how much that applied to **SAO** , he wasn't taking any chances. Harry's face however wasn't as flippant as - yesterday and nodded grimly.

Dudley stared for a moment. 'Okay, well with **Party** here, you can **Create** , **Invite** and **Dissolve**.Pretty self-explanatory.'

Harry stalled for a moment, seemingly drawing a blank, before: 'Whats a "party"?'

Dudley couldn't help the sight that escaped him. 'Right, sorry.' He muttered, running a tired hand through his hair. 'A **Party** 's like...a team up, only it can be up to...I think it was, like, six Players. And yeah, I know we've been partnered up, but doing it through the system unlocks features.' Dudley said before Harry could open his mouth.

'When a proper command goes through the **Cardinal** , its then supported by **SAO**.' Dudley continued. 'In fact, I should have Invited you into a Party already, but it short of slipped my mind.' He shrugged lightly, as he went through the process of sending out the Invite, there.

 **Decha Invites You Into A Party.**

 **Do You Accept?**

 **O - X**

The pop-up read. Harry barely glanced at it before accepting, something Dudley hoped his cousin stopped soon enough. Harry was never an argumentative person by nature but that didn't mean Dudley had ever seen Harry so...dependent before.

'The **Guild** button neither of us will need for awhile yet, I think.' Dudley mutter as he went on to the next: the **Communications** Category. The icon was of two chat boxes. 'So this is where you can send messages to other Players and receive them - it saves having to go through the **Friend** sub-menu, if you can just do it here. Its basically like Texting.'

Texting was also a relatively new concept for Harry who had never owed a phone, never mind a _Smart_ phone. Dudley remembered sending a good part of a day going through all the different features to Harry (a bit like he was doing now).

'Okay...' Harry hummed.

'Its helpful if a Player gets stuck in a Dungeon or something and needs help.' Dudley added and watched as recognition appeared on Harry's face. 'Of course then you've got the sub-menus: **Befriend, Trade, Duel** and **Marriage.** '

Harry's eyes widened - green but not as bright as IRL. Maybe they'd looked more realistic in better lighting?

'M-Marriage?' Harry stuttered.

Despite the situation Dudley felt a smile pulling at his lips. 'What, you not the type for commitment, Wizard?' The pigment of Harry's skin reddened on his cheeks, but went nowhere near his neck - like Harry was prone to, an oversight he supposed numbly. 'Yeah, _marriage_.This is a _Role-_ Playing game, Ha - Choice.

Its meant to be was realistic as possible. Besides, theres...advantages.'

Harry raised an eyebrow. 'You don't say. Aunt - your mother would be so disappointed in you, De.' He snarked.

Dudley snorted and rolled his eyes. 'Not _those_ sort of advantages. Although **SAO** _is_ very, very... _realistic.'_

The shock on Harry's face was good enough to _frame_ and Dudley couldn't quite hide is choked of laugh. 'Are you pulling my leg?' Silence and then: 'De?!'

Dudley smirked and waited for a moment until he gave in. 'Alright, alright don't get your virgin nickers in a twist.' Harry had just sighed in relief when Dudley decided to add: 'Your **Moral Code** is still on, so you get to enjoy censorship as much as you want.'

'W-w-wha-?'

Ignoring Harry's horrified face, Dudley went back to the Menu. 'So, where was I...? Oh, yeah. **Communications.** ' He thought aloud mockingly as his cousin continued to splutter. 'So **Duel** and **Trade** are next. These are pretty important.'

'When you **Trade** , simply press on the **Option** and then go through the window and select what you want to give to another Player. You can really **Trade** anything - from **Equipment** to **Cor** , just be careful not to get conned.' Dudley warned, evening his tone so Harry would understand that this was serious.

'In **SAO** you have three types of items. One is the bought kind: like your Staff or my Bronze Sword. Know the problem with that?'

Harry straightened up and bit his lip. 'Anyone else can buy them?'

 _Not bad._ 'Yeah they can. They're not rare at all and the items bought from NCP's aren't game-clearing Equipment, their usually just to start new Players off, or allow experienced Player's to Level Grind without worrying about breaking a rare item.'

'What are the other types?' Harry asked.

' **Monster Drops** and **Player Made** ' Dudley answered. 'Monster drops are usually a one time deal for good Equipment. Problem is, is that Players will lie, cheat and steal in - in games that - that _aren't_ **SAO** to get their hands on something rare. I can't even imagine the infighting this will cause with the odds...now.'

Which scared Dudley. The Betas would all be proper Gamers, which meant that competitive streak, that wasn't including the other _nine thousand_ people trapped with them. It was going to be pure chaos, Dudley knew. He stiffly remembered the suffocation of that crowd in the Square; the pushing, the shouting, the "every man for himself" mentality that had almost swallowed him too.

Dudley didn't know where he'd be without Harry, leading him out. Probably still back in **Starting City** , with everyone else, panicking.

'De...?' Came Harry's quiet voice off to the side.

Shaking his head, Dudley told himself off. 'Right, sorry.' He apologised roughly. ' **Player Made** would be items that - yeah - are made by Player's. But I don't know how many Crafters there'll be, not with...how things are in **SAO.** I mean, that route's never interested me anyway, but I can't see a lot of people wanting to waste Skill Slots on that kind of thing now.'

'So, conserve items, then?' Harry summed up, watching Dudley carefully.

'Where you can.' Dudley nodded. 'Don't be too frigid with them either though.'

'Noted.' Harry responded dryly, eyes flickering to Dudley's Menu and back again. 'The Floor Maps the next er, Category right?'

Dudley smiled. A good thing about Harry was that he was usually a first learner...though, he had realised that in Primary School. Getting rid of another bad line of thought, Dudley ruffled a hand through Harry's hair. 'Yeah, you should know that one, since you led us all the way here.'

'Get off.' Harry huffed as he leaned away from Dudley's hand.

Dudley didn't push it too far: he wasn't sure just how the **Cardinal Warnings** worked yet, and he didn't really want one for _Harassment_ on his own cousin. That'd sure be an embarrassment. 'Before that though:

 **Duel**. We almost skipped it.'

And here Harry all but became a statue. 'Duel? You _duel?'_

Dudley couldn't quite work out the tone, or why Harry suddenly looked like someone was about to burst in here and skewer them both. 'Duelling in RPGs is common...why? Whats wrong?'

Harry spent a minute or so frozen, without blinking. Dudley was beginning to think he was lagging when Harry's fists crept shut, fingers curling and turning white as the nail buds pushed inwards. 'Nothing...no reason.' Harry whispered.

Was this more Wizarding World shit? 'Do...do you want to take a break, Ha - Choice?'

Very slowly, like Harry was watching something only he could see on the wooden floorboards, he looked back up. 'No.'

 _Why does that sound like a "Yes,"_ Dudley couldn't help but think, but knew by now how stubborn his cousin was.

'...With the Duel category you can fight another Player, even inside Safe Zones. Theres a lot of Duel modes and the conditions vary so...don't.' Dudley tried to stare intently, tried to get whatever he was feeling across. 'Don't duel until you know you can, or not at all if you don't think you can win or the conditions are bad.'

Harry tilt his chin upwards in acceptance and quietly, like he was imprinting a secret, uttered: 'I've never fought without a reason and I never will.' _But if I have to,_ his eyes said as clear as day, _I'm prepared to do whats needed._

A hero for a cousin. Why couldn't Harry be a normal sixteen year old?

Dudley turned his attention back to his Menu and clicked on the icon with a ballon location symbol, and briefly looked through the sub-menu. 'So.' Dudley began awkwardly. 'Maps.'

'Okay, so the **Field Map** is what you selected - thats for the **Floor Maps** , or the open area around you. The **Dungeon Map** is for - inside Dungeons, obviously. We won't be needing that for awhile, either. The next is for **Quests**. There should be at least a few on every Floor; I think we should start looking for them tomorrow.'

'...Quests?' Harry inquired, as his hands started to relax.

 _Slow it down, Dudley._ He told himself, annoyed at himself as he kept forgetting. _Your practically speaking a different language, you're luck he's catching on as quickly as he is._

'Right, sorry. Quests are like missions which offer rewards for completion.' Dudley informed as best as he could. 'We could get some more **Cor** ,probably, but I was thinking it'd be good for **EXP** and Items.'

Embarrassment and uncertainty was something Dudley was getting used to seeing on Harry's face, so knew that Harry hadn't understood something again before he had asked: ' **EXP**?'

 _Goddamn it._ 'Okay, I still haven't really gone through **Levelling** , huh?' When Harry shook his head, Dudley closed his Menu - knowing that the last Category of Settings was just about useless right now, and repositioned himself so they were facing properly.

'You understand that the higher the Level the Player is, the stronger they are, right?'

'Yeah, they get more.. **.HP** too, yeah?' Harry said unsurely.

'Yeah.' Dudley confirmed. 'So to Level up you need to gain **EXP** \- Experience Points. In **SAO** you get **EXP** by battling, defeating Boss', completing Quests; that type of thing. Once you've gained enough **EXP** to Level up, you **HP** raises and you get three **Stat Points.** '

Harry held up his hands. 'Okay, okay. Slow down. You've lost me again.' He sighed. 'What're _**Stat**_ **Points**?'

' **Stat Points** \- in **SAO** \- go towards an Avatars attributes. You have to choose from **Strength** or **Agility**.'

Dudley said as best as he could from what he remembered from the Messaging Boards. 'The thing you've got to remember is that you _aren't_ your Avatar. It doesn't matter how strong or fast you were IRL. None of that physical stuffs translated over. You've got to build it up through your **Stat points.** '

'I...I didn't struggle running earlier.' Harry frowned.

Dudley took a deep breath. 'Not what I meant. You can do just about anything you can think of.' Leaning in, Dudley couldn't help but ask: 'Didn't you notice, you were going full tilt and I was keeping up with you? Injuries aside, you've always been faster than me, but if we faced now, It'd probably be a draw since all our **Stats** are the same.'

Harry's eyes widened. 'I...didn't notice.'

'You were probably too busy looking out for Monsters.' Dudley responded and let it go when Harry said nothing else. 'Actually, **Skills** need **Levelling Up** too. The more you work on them, the stronger and advanced they get.'

'So...its all about work?' Harry finally said.

'Yeah. It really is all up to the Player - what type of Avatar they want to create. I mean, I don't have to go for the **Strength** , I could focus on **Speed** instead and it wouldn't really matter that my body type wouldn't supported it IRL.'

'Anything?'

Dudley watched Harry closely for a second before hesitantly nodding. 'Anything. **SAO** has a **Class System** too and **Career Paths** but I'm not entirely sure about those myself; it was hard enough finding out what I did on the internet.'

A weak, tired smile twisted Harry's lips as he shook his head. 'De, I understood about half of what you just said.' He said in warning.

Dudley nearly groaned out loud but held it in valiantly. ' **Classes** and **Career Paths** in games are what characters are, and what they do.' Dudley struggled to say, never having to explain any of this to anyone.

'Say I chose to be a **Thief** , then I would be choosing the **Criminal Route**.'

 _At least, I think thats a thing._ That particular Messing Board had been in French and with him all but flunking Language, and with Google Translate being so crappy, he wasn't entirely positive on the outcome.

'I see...' Harry frowned but despite his words, he looked less then sure.

Dudley didn't like seeing his cousin so uncertain, not when he, himself felt so... _not_ so good himself. He was so used to Harry being strong, even when it looked like the world was falling down around him.

And Harry was still strong: he had proved that with the way had slashed through the Monsters that had interrupted, with a firm and set expression and eyes that never wavered, never looked away. But Dudley knew Harry by now - had grown up with Harry, and now - now after training, and fighting that war and

whatever happened with those friends of him...

There was just...there was just a distinct lack of energy, no purpose lighting a fire under him; something _missing,_ something important. Something lost.

With the silence settling between them, and Harry's attention waning to the corner of the room, Dudley went to ease himself into what he knew would be a difficult subject. But something he _had_ to mention.

'Choice, I know I said not to talk of...home, and ten out of ten so far but - but I need to ask _you_ a question.'

Harry shifted back to awareness. It was unsettling; like someone turning a light switch back on. Maybe Harry was more tired then Dudley had first thought?

'Yeah, whats that De?'

Dudley waited a second before biting the bullet. 'Will you be...okay with... _this?'_

Harry looked up from where he had been fiddling with the bed's duvet. 'What do you mean?'

'Its... **SAO** 's another...another... _battle_ now.' Dudley said as he fought for the right words. 'Will...I know your not weak, Choice - even if you don't really get gaming but - what I need to know, will you be okay?'

Because between Harry's nightmares, "detachment, hyper-vigilance" and with what looked like flashbacks, Dudley had began to look up soldiers. Because that was the closet thing he could use to describe his cousin who was so _far_ from a well adjusted teenager.

That had brought Dudley to many pages on PTSD, something which could be caused by: "assault"; check.

"Neglect"; check.

"Sudden death of a loved one"; check, check.

"Terrorist attack"; check.

"War"; check, check, check.

All Harry's symptoms had matched up and from what Dudley had read, reminders of the same type of trauma or increased anxiety would be _extremely_ bad for Harry, who already seemed to be experiencing the bulk of PTSD.

'Just...will you be okay?'

Because Dudley was no doctor and definitely didn't know how things in **SAO** would turn out, good or bad - or rather _how_ bad things would go before they reached Floor One-Hundred but Dudley couldn't ignore the similarities.

Not when he was the only one who would see Harry as what he was, who had the pieces to Harry's screwed backstory. Fuck, if _only_ Dudley could've taken him to a doctor - a doctor who _wouldn't_ put them both in straightjackets.

'Will I be okay?' Harry repeated and before Dudley could say another word, asked: 'Why?'

Dudley began to get a sinking feeling but didn't reach forward, not with the obvious tension that he could see knotting Harry's shoulders. 'Look. I don't want to start a fight - not now.' _Especially not now._ 'I'm - I'm just _worried_ about you! You haven't been... _right,_ since, well, you know.'

Suddenly, Harry stood and without turning walked to the other bed.

'Harry.' Dudley sighed in fatigue. 'Can't you just let be - _try_ to be a good cousin?'

That stilled Harry for a moment but not for long as he whispered, in a voice that was stilted and devoid of emotion, 'it might not matter anyway.' And proceeded to open his Menu, go through to Equipment and Un-

Equipped the armour chest-plate they had both started out with and his boats, all without instruction.

'In a couple more hours Aunt Petunia will be up and the first thing she'll do while making breakfast, is to turn on the news.'

Dudley didn't get the chance to scold Harry for using her name, because his next few words made something in Dudley panic. 'And if that happens, she might just do you the favour of pulling my plug if you' _re_ that worried.'

'What -'

Dudley hadn't even _thought_ about that. All those news articles they had thrust in the faces and Dudley _hadn't even thought -_ his mother knew _nothing_ about technology, wouldn't care about consequences; she was thickheaded that way.

And again, before could speak, Harry continued: 'So. Maybe. _If,_ I survive tomorrow, we can say that I perhaps _won't_ be offed be your mother, and _then_ we can talk about my mental capabilities.'

Aaand _of course,_ Harry would take it in the worst possible way!

'I wasn't -'

'Goodnight, Dudley.' Harry interrupted as he flicked the light switch off that was above the nightstand, and left Dudley watching his cousin's outline carelessly getting into bed, and turning away under the covers without another word.

Had Dudley mentioned irritability or outbursts? How foolish of him.

'Arse. Fine, we won't talk.' Dudley couldn't help but snap at the shadow, as he himself shakily went to Un-Equip his armour, gloves and shoes. 'But _when_ we get through tomorrow _and_ onwards, you, - you great, big prat - you _will_ give me the courtesy of an honest "I'm fine, De." or an "I'm not fine, De." Or so help me _Choice_ , I'll - I'll...well, I'll do something!'

Closing his Menu with a snap his wrist, Dudley violently got into bed and rolled so his back was facing his cousin.

 _'She might just do you the favour of pulling my plug.'_ Echoed mockingly in Dudley's head and he tried to curl up against the words - against the stress of the thought that, _that_ could happen in a few hours. That Dudley could be left in **SAO** all on his own.

That he'd be left alone with the other Players, in **SAO** in an unknown situation, with other goals beyond Floor One-Hundred. _Alone._

Tears stung his eyes and with gritted teeth he'd be watching the window all through the day; unable to sleep as he prayed and bargained for his stupid little cousin to still be by his side when tomorrow came.

 _'She'll pull my plug.'_

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

The guilt crashed down around him, knowing that this would be all his fault - that Harry's death would be _completely_ his fault. That Harry would have lived through a war only to be _killed_ by his big idiot of a cousin.

All his bloody fault.

 _Fuck. Fuck. Fuck._

'You're a stubborn prick, with magic hands and a need to be a hero.' Dudley whispered harshly into the darkness, more for himself then for Harry to hear - if he was even still awake. 'You're too stubborn to let Mum off you and your too much of a goody-two shoes to let me die here. You're my Bodyguard, your not going anywhere.'

'If something happens to me...' is whispered back into the black and at first Dudley thinks he's hearing things, with how still Harry is. 'If something happens to me, just go on that Quest, the one you mentioned before. Go on the Quest and get strong.'

Typical little, hero cousin, thinking about his own death but still wanting the best for other. Glaring out in to the shape of small shoulders, hissed in finality:

'You're not going _anywhere.'_

Petunia Dursley woke up to a slightly less then average day, to her faithful husband snoring beside her and an almost perfect day of lounging ahead of her. "Slightly less" and "almost perfect" only due to one, slight smear on her lovely, normal life.

Her nephew had returned.

When the Freaks had taken the boy that night, all that time ago, Petunia had been sure that she'd never have to concern over the association again; that, that blight on her family had been taken care of.

She was proven wrong after returning from one of Vernon's business dinners. It had been hosted at a very nice restaurant, in a good part of town. Petunia had worn a lovely floral dress with pearl earrings and a matching necklace, while her husband got into one of his hand-made suits since they didn't do his size in-

store.

( _Discriminatory_ it was, Vernon was a true man, with a physique that matched perfectly. Even Marks and Spancer's let them down, going up to only a XXL.)

When they returned, they expected to find they Dudder's studying for college - with one of those computer books they had bought him. Such a smart boy, showing up his year mates with his work ethic.

However when they opened the door to voices, they were very much surprised. Assuming it was one of Duddikin's school friends, Petunia went into great them while Vernon went to the kitchen in search of the triple chocolate cake she had baked earlier. (However high-standard the food was, restaurants were simply _notorious_ for their small potions. Absolutely ridiculous if you asked her, how was that meant to fill her hard-working husband up?)

Thinking it was perhaps that nice boy Priers that had dropped by, Petunia put on her best mothering smile only for it drop as soon as she opened the door and for _her_ bright, green _unnatural_ eyes to be staring back at her.

Just like he had been taken, Harry Potter had been returned in much the same way. Unwelcome and silent - both in and out. Vernon and come scuffling to her recuse, plate in one hand, fork stuffing half the cake in his mouth clutched in the other.

He may have spluttered something in his panic but her voice over took his. ' _V-Vernon! He - The Freak -!'_ She stuttered.

Vernon pushed her to see through the doorframe and promptly dropped her beautiful bone china plate.

 _'Hello Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon._ ' The boy greeted like he had a right to be in their good, law-abiding household.

' _What the Devil are_ you _doing here,_ Freak?' Vernon had growled, obviously trying to protect their family since their Dudder's was still in the sitting room with him.

And then came the explanation: the war had ended, Volde-wosie was gone again and the boy was now a _murderer._ What _was_ that no-good community like? Letting a _killer_ walk free. Even going so far as _protecting_ them by taking them back into honest, _normal_ homes.

Of course they couldn't kick him out without causing a fuss, and the boy had hinted that _his kind_ would not appreciate them throwing him out onto the street. Without much choice they had given him his old room back, much to Petunia embarrassment.

An never ending embarrassment it seemed.

The boy was even _more_ a state then when he was fourteen: he was far too skinny and short to be masculine like her Dudder's! His clothes were appalling and reflected badly on them with how tight and black they were! His hair was outrageously long, by almost reaching his shoulders and the freak walked with a limp!

It was disgusting! If she didn't know that the boy had likely been given a taste of his own medicine in that war of his, she would have suspected him to be, well. Good people should hardly say it. Out of sight, out of mind. But she'd have likely suspected him to be a dirty, little faggot.

Trying to be more feminine to turn men to unholy practices.

If Petunia so much as caught one whiff of that, she didn't care _who_ came knocking down her door, she would _not_ have such immoral behaviour going on in her house. Especially not around her Dudder's.

What if he caught it?

But during long weeks of explaining his presences away to the neighbors away, ( _'Homeless again. I think he was shacking up with some girl he got pregnant before she found out about his criminal record. She kicked him out and I couldn't very well leave him out on the streets, what would my sister say if she were still here?')_ and the boy made no effort to go out and disgrace them, so it was no sweat of her back, him fucking the wrong type if no one knew.

Regardless, how much time sweet Duddikins spent around the Freak concerned both her and Vernon, and although Vernon told her that Dudder's had learnt that hideous boxing, she couldn't put her fear to rest.

The boy was a bad influence!

Sighing, she slipped out of bed quietly. Like a good, respectable wife, Petunia got ready amidst her husbands thunderous snores and took her makeup bag with her to the bathroom, which had been moved from the medicine cabinet, to her dressing table once the freak had been back.

A precaution, against any more...freakishness on his part.

Once she had taken care of herself and her face was on, her hair immaculate, she softly knocked on Dudder's bedroom door. 'Dear, I'm just about to start breakfast.' He didn't reply but Petunia shrugged. Her son was diligent and had probably been working late on complete that new game. He deserved some rest. She past the Freak's room without a glance.

Once she was downstairs she left the kitchen door open, so the smell of the frying pan could stir her boys awake and began opening packets. Three plastic packets of bacon, two cartons of eggs, a tin of baked beans, another tree packets of sausages and so on. A proper English feast for the kings of her castle.

Petunia had just been plating up when her husband's footsteps echoed down the stairwell, greeting her long before he did as his slow descent allowed her time to put his food at the head of the table, and pour the kettle for some morning tea; no coffee, they were trying to be healthy.

Just as Vernon was fitting through the doorframe, Petunia turned the kitchen television on, on the counter and then went to the fridge, to find her low calorie yogurt waiting for her.

Getting a spoon from the draw and she joined her husband's side, who was already tucking into his food with a healthy vigour, forkfuls at a time.

'Put on the news, love. I want to see how the stocks are going.'

Such a man of the day, Vernon was. Happily, Petunia flickered through the channels and had just stopped on Breaking News when the doorbell rang. She glanced at her husband in surprise but he was already immersed into the screen, so she got up to see who it was.

It was early, as they were a working family. Just a few minutes past six. Who could possibly be here at this time in the morning? The Postman, lazy blighter didn't get to their street until gone eight, the milkman wasn't due to deliver to day.

It...it couldn't be one of those freaks?

She opened the door rudely, prepared to scream bloody murder but instead of robes, breads and freakishness, she got their hard-working policeman, one suit with a clipboard in hand flanked by two paramedics.

'Is this the Dursley residence, please?' The man asked.

Petunia blinked. 'Yes, how may I help you?' She asked, calming down from her initial fury.

'Does a... _Dudley_ Dursley live here?' The man in the suit asked.

'Yes.' Petunia replied curiously, wondering what sort of mistake this was. They hadn't called for the emergency services, but they had the right house. How strange.

'And a Harry James Potter?'

Something in Petunia tightened. So this had something to do with the freak? 'Temporarily. His parents were killed drunk driving.' She replied shortly.

The man gave her a look but said nothing. 'But he lives here?'

'For now.' Petunia agreed reluctantly.

'I'm afraid we have some bad news, may be come in?' The man asked, already stepping forward onto her doorstep. Petunia had just nodded her head and was stepping aside when a scream of pure rage erupted from the kitchen.

Without a thought to spare, the policeman rushed forward and disappeared down the hallway. 'What - I saw -'

'Please, Ma'am.' The man said now in a rush and suddenly Petunia noticed his American accent. A Yankee in her house! Why she never! 'Quickly now, who was that?'

Affronted and unsteady, Petunia answered with a numb tongue: 'M-my husband. He's a hotblooded male, of course I don't know what would set him off.'

The man exchanged a look with the paramedics that flew right over her head. 'If you'll excuse me I should go -'

'The reason _why_ your husband is so upset and why we're here, I reckon is one and the same, Ma'am.'

The man rudely interrupted her, stopping her before he could fully move away. 'Leave him to Officer Philips to calm down, we must talk.'

Petunia frowned and wanted to refuse but this sounded ever so official to her ears. 'Of course...Mister?'

His eyes widened and he stuck out his head. 'Ah, apologies, I'm afraid we're pressed for time. I'm Andrew Charles, from the The Embassy.' He introduced. 'Late yesterday Japan's Government made a world wide announcement -'

'A piece of technology that unravelled our realities so badly it has become an international incident -'

'I'm sorry. ' Petunia said impatiently. 'But what does this have to do with my son?'

The man barely blinked as he carried on, with an uneasy and restless energy. 'This has everything to do with yar boy, Ma'am.' He stated. 'Everything will be explained to you and your husband, but I need to ask you some questions.'

'And what're those?' Petunia asked in irritation, crossing her arms over her chest.

'Has anyone disturbed your son or nephew since they put on the Nervegear yesterday?'

 _Nerve -_ 'Isn't that, that ridiculous thing Dudder's was raving about? Something to do with that game of his?' When the man nodded, she sighed herself. 'No. I knocked when I went down to cook breakfast but he didn't answer me.'

'And theres no one else in the household who would have interrupted the program? Any power cuts?'

'No!' Petunia finally snapped. 'What on _earth_ is this about?'

The man's face suddenly changed, just in time for her to hear her husband's exclamation from the other room. Petunia was ready to move away, when he pulled her back. 'They're trapped, I'm sorry but your boys 'ave been stolen.'

 **Con/textual:** I have _literally_ been trying to upload this for _weeks._ I've converted it into different file types, tried uploading on a completely different computer that uses a different server and internet access. I am at my wits end, that I've contacted the sites support but damn me if I've had a response yet. I have no idea whats wrong, except its been happening for awhile now and I've always had to wait a few days for it to work again but nothing is working. Not even my Image Manager is working.

Well, I even looked to see if I was over my file limit. Unsurprising I was not.

I'm not sure _what_ I'm going to do, all I know is that I really don't have the time nor the knowledge to fiddle with it, when I've tried every conceivable thing to make my blasted Docs work, now though I've cut down the chapter considerably to see if that'll help.

 ***Update:** I have no discovered I can't upload anything over 3000 words. I am spitting fire. I'll try uploading the other bits of Chapter three and come Friday, see if I can get into the Library to try and re-upload them again. So if anyone is nice enough to review, please do it on this very short, very cropped chapter.

 ****Update:** WHOOOH! I've finally managed to upload it in one piece! I am _so_ relieved! A few days ago I had to do a reset to factory settings, which actually deleted Pages from my Mac. Annoying but I found TextEdit (something I'm not entirely sure I had it the first time), and I tried to use it to re-upload the chapter and it worked! Hopefully this means I won't have the problem again! Thank you for your patience!

 **(Finally** _ **Uploaded: 08.11.2015)**_


	4. Questing

**November 23rd, 2022**

* * *

Dudley woke up slowly, lethargic with the embrace of sleep that was about to pull him back into the darkness when he remembered yesterday. Yesterday which had been so _normal_ if he discounted spending time with the cousin that had been missing and the fact that the two of them were actually getting on and spending _time together._ But that was the new normal now; what Dudley had been working towards but then SAO -

SAO.

 _'Players, I wish you the best of luck.'_

 _'She might just do you the favour of pulling my plug.'_

Startled, Dudley's head whirled to the window which was streaming light into the room. That was yesterday. He had fallen asleep. _When had he fallen asleep?_ He hadn't even noticed when he had drifted off but that was beside the point, his mother would have noticed by now - she would have -

He all but lurched out of bed, covers sliding over his body like they were never there to start with. He hits the floor but the sudden loss of height doesn't starve his panic as he stumbles to the empty bed opposite his own, sheet undisturbed.

Harry wasn't in his bed.

 _Harry wasn't in his bed._

Dudley can hear the echo of his heartbeat, feels faint as he stares and stares. No. _No._ Not Harry. Harry couldn't just - just. No! 'Harry.' Dudley whispered, voice barely audible as his breathing grew more erratic. _'HARRRY!'_ The scream was bellowed but he couldn't feel it in his throat. Couldn't feel anything but a faint tingle as his eyes frantically jumped around the room only to pause when the bathroom door slammed opened.

There, Harry skidded out - naked, pixelated and unsexed - dripping water from one room to the next and with his staff in hand. His expression is set but his eyes are wide as they search the room before they settle on Dudley. Steam wafts in and so does a strange humidity that hits Dudley in the face. Temperature; he had read online about -

No. Keep on track.

'What?' Harry asks, wrong-footed and on-guard. 'What is it?'

Alive. His small cousin, just a little too short and just a bit too brave with black hair and green eyes. His cousin who had given more than he got and who Dudley kept getting the repeated nightmare that one day, out of the blue, Harry would just vanish. His cousin that had followed him to this trap. _Harry._

Without thinking Dudley clenches a fist and hits Harry in his gorgeously _still there_ face. The hit forces Harry backwards onto the floor where his staff clatters away from them. A warning cuts in-between the two of them but Dudley barely glances at it, red and glaring as it is.

'Dudley?' Harry says in confusion with the wrong name and Dudley knows that this is going to get to be a problem. His hand goes up to brush against his cheek though he took no damage, not in a Safe Zone. 'Wha-'

'You weren't there.' Dudley hisses and thinks he sounds a bit unsteady to his own ears. Thinks he doesn't care as he stares and stares. Imagines what it would be like to be stranded alone in this new world that was suddenly so ominous with ten-thousand players all of which were strangers.

'I…I don't sleep well.' Harry tries to explain softly with wide eyes. 'So I got up, waited a bit and found I needed the toilette -'

Dudley can't help himself, however, bad it makes him feel from punching his idiot - _idiot_ cousin again. Another warning appears which he ignores. 'The next time wake me up! You can't say stuff like you don't know if you'll be here tomorrow and _then not be there.'_

Harry rubs at his face from instinct alone as it were impossible to feel pain. 'I…sorry, De.' His cousin apologises softly. 'I didn't think -'

'No you bloody well didn't!' Dudley snaps. Without pride and with regret, hits his stupid, _stupid_ cousin again for giving him a fucking _heart attack._ For being thoughtless. For saying what he did at all. Before deflating a minute later. He sighs, wary. Quickly he kneels, grabs hold of his slight cousin whose still naked as the day he was born and sprawled on the ground, squeezes as tightly as the system allowed, doesn't wait for Harry to return it for him Dudley to pull away.

He stands slowly and lowers his hand without looking. It doesn't take a minute for Harry to clasp his own and to allow himself to be pulled back up. 'Dry off and put something on, will you?' Dudley grumbles. His eyes attach themselves to the corner of the room but he doesn't need to see his cousin to know he flushes red as he rushes off, forgetting his staff as he speeds into the bathroom and loudly shuts the door.

Dudley sighs again as he glances down at his fist. He flexes his fingers and guiltily grimaces. He should _never_ have hit Harry. He had done enough of that when the Harry Hunting had begun at Primary School. But his temper had always gotten away from him and the panic had overwhelmed him. All that emotion had to go somewhere. If he had lost Harry…

'You should probably read that pop-up.' Harry's voice says as he emerges back into their room. Dudley watches him for a second, remembers his thought when they had been running from the **Town of Beginnings** and how his mind had numbly noted the lack of limping in Harry's stride and thinks again the ease of Harry's movement.

But then "pop up" is resonating in his ears and Dudley looks at the Warning Alert that he hadn't dismissed, eyes quickly reading its letters. 'Shit.' Dudley says as he runs a hand through is hair. Harry is by his side immediately, holding onto one of his shoulders.

 **Warning**

 **Repeated violence in Safe Zone against Players.**

 **Fine is now pending at The Court House. You have a week to pay.**

 **(X)**

'Ah…' Harry cringes. 'So…'

Dudley closes the Warning, scrubs his face with his hands and quietly despairs. 'My own fault.' He sighs, eyes shutting before addressing Harry. 'What do we do?' It wasn't as simple as just going to pay however much **Cor** he now owed. He probably wouldn't be able to afford it with how little money they had left after buying their weapons and the room. That, and he could only assume **The Court House** was in **Starting City**. Which meant returning to that chaos.

'Well,…we have a week.' Harry says slowly. 'We'll do that Quest today. Do some training…try and earn some money before we make the journey back. How's that?'

'Good. Great.' Dudley replies though they'd have to be flexible about it to make sure they didn't miss the week's deadline. He wasn't entirely certain where the Quest was, only having a rough idea from what he had heard from the Betas. This was the finished product, though, things always get changed when the developments finished.

'Sorry…I shouldn't have…' Dudley gestures at Harry hopelessly.

Harry shrugs. 'Its alright.' He waves it away. It just makes Dudley feels smaller. 'Don't worry about it.'

'Harry…'

Harry shakes his head. 'No, really. I didn't even feel it. It helped you more than it hurt me -'

'Thats not an excuse.' Dudley frowns and no, it can't be. Allowing this to be just swept under the rug - he can't be who he was before those Dementors. He can't. 'I shouldn't have - hit you. It was…I was worried and didn't know how to handle it. I'm sorry.'

Something about Harry softens, relaxes even if his brow is completely _confounded_ in how they knot. 'Then…I forgive you.' He allows. 'Now, do you want to leave for this Quest?'

Dudley looks out the window, sees how bright it is and nods. They'll have to be careful about the time if they didn't want to get lost wondering around in the dark. It was just too dangerous with the stakes so high. 'Yeah, if we can't find it by tonight we'll have to try again tomorrow.'

Harry frowns for a second but after a moment agrees. 'Alright, let's go then.' He says and they both move towards the door with Harry, bending to pick up his staff that he carries with them as the leave.

* * *

Dudley ends up leading them towards a barn about half an hours walk from the Inn. There's a boy around their age prompt up on an unstable-looking fence, looking uneasy if the set of his features said anything. The dressed like a farmhand of some sort but what captured Harry's attention was the cursor above the boy's head; it wasn't a crystal like every other player's way though the colour was right for an NPC even with the indicator was of an exclamation point framed in a box.

'De -'

'A Quest NPC.' Dudley responds without Harry having to finish. 'C'mon.'

Harry nods and follows Dudley over to the boy who, unlike the barmaid, responds to them before they speak by turning in their direction once they're close enough and narrowing his hazel eyes. 'Is…something troubling you?' Dudley asks and instantly the exclamation point changes to a question mark.

'Who…who're you?' The boy asks.

Dudley looks a bit stumped so Harry tries to help with wherever this is going. 'Friends. We've heard you need some help?'

The NPC turns towards him and doesn't speak for a second or two before he's lightly jumping off of the fence to stand in front of them. 'Aye.' He responds in a way that immediately makes Harry think back to Seamus. 'Been havin' some trouble, me. You interested in some cow huntin'?'

 _Cows?_ Harry thinks and subtly glances at Dudley who at least looks like this should make sense. 'Wild?' Dudley asks.

The boy grimaces. 'Aye.' He confirms. 'Been…attackin' this here farm. Me Pa tried to run em off bur…he weren't no fighter.'

" _Tried." "Weren't."_ Harry winces and thinks that it was unlikely that they wouldn't be meeting the father. 'I'm sorry.' He feels compelled to say. It wasn't like he didn't understand what NPC's were once Dudley had explained. It was just…sad, was all.

The boy looks back up from where he had turned his attention to his shoes and sort of…stares at Harry. 'Thank ya.' He responds eventually. 'I ain't strong neither an' I got a little sista. I can't…' Harry's discomfort grows. If someone really had…designed these people then why couldn't they be… _happier?_

'When do the cows attack?' Dudley questions as he places a hand on Harry's shoulder.

'Night, when the moon's full.' The boy responds. 'Does that mean y'all be there? An' stop them damn cows?'

'Yes.' Dudley responds just in time for another pop-up to appear in front of them.

 **Cows' Counter Attack Quest Activated**

The wind blows ominously even when the boy's face relaxes, shoulders slumping. 'Thank ya.' He breathes. 'Me sista's sick so I can't…I need ta be 'ere.'

'Why "counter attack"?' Harry asks in confusion and the boy's face shutters closed. He recoils, taking a step back.

Big eyes turned wet and Harry wonders again why someone would program this. 'Hey…?'

'I - I didn't mean to.' The boy pleads as his arms curl around his middle. 'It was just…Me Pa had just gotten this new herd an'…I - I _didn't mean ta.'_

'Choice.' Dudley whispers.

'Didn't mean to?' Harry parrots as he focuses on

The boy sniffs as tears build. 'I…was playin' around with a friend o' mine an…a calf died…' He cries as he looks frantically up at Harry. 'It…it was an accident, bur…the herd - it…it went _mental._ '

Harry swallows, an awful, automated feeling followed and he nodded. 'Alright. _Alright.'_ He says. 'Tonight there'll be another attack?'

Tears are running down flushed cheeks before disappearing into nothingness under the boy's chin. Luckily, he can still respond. 'Aye.'

'Then we have time for some training.' Harry turns to Dudley who seems sort of lost.

'…yeah.' Dudley agrees and starts to turn around.

'Later, kid.' Harry waves as he goes to follow his cousin who was heading in the general direction of the **Deep Forest**. 'De…?'

'Quest NPC's are a bit different to normal NPC's.' Dudley states seemingly the apropos of nothing. 'A lot of NPC's are just programmed for simple tasks and to understand a few preset commands. Quest NPCs are much more intelligence; they're given personalities, relationships, backstories and are able to interact on a whole other level. When I told you yesterday about AIs, that's what I was talking about.'

'Alright…' Harry trails off, slightly confounded.

Dudley looks at him then, that sort of constipated worry clear on his face. 'But…don't go - getting _attached.'_

Harry's lips purse and thinks he understands. 'Okay.' He agrees simply.

Dudley nods and seems to drop it. 'So what…training were you thinking about?'

Harry jumps on that new subject and not just to try and expel the awkwardness. 'We need to practice how to fight together better.'

'We're in a Party now but it's a good idea.' Dudley frowns. 'Some strategy wouldn't hurt either, I guess.'

Harry nods. Honestly, he wasn't overly used to fighting with an alley. The last person who he had trusted with his back had been his teacher, his mentor and although Dudley was trying, he wasn't Mad Eye. 'Where would you want to start?' He didn't have his magic here and he was very out of his element. Dudley would better, so Harry would have to try and let go of some control here.

'We should try and get used to the Fight and Switch.' Dudley suggestions.

Harry blinks and after an explanation agrees to spending a few hours at practising this in the **Deep Forest**. The time of trial and error stretches out until night starts to fall and they start to head back to the Inn for something to eat on the spoils of today's massacre. Consuming anything in **SAO** ended up a very… _strange_ experience and Harry couldn't help but find it unpleasant but it numbed the hunger pangs at echoed through this empty shell of his.

There wasn't much of a variety on the Inn's Menu, with just a few different meals and a number of different, very _expensive_ drinks and spirits. They ended up spending too much in the Inn but Dudley had been worried about what would happen if they starved themselves despite not currently being connected to their bodies. Harry had conceded since Dudley had more experience with technology.

They finished up and left the Inn again to check the position of the moon and decided to head out when they see how dark it is. Harry's eyes are constantly flickering to the sky for the time and what is around them. He's paranoid that they'll be attacked from the shadows while on the way to the farm and wishes that this Quest didn't have to happen at night.

Luckily, the closer they approached the farm on the beaten the more in focus the barn was. Thankfully, the Quest NPC had light the barn so they didn't have to rely on the brightness from the moon and also had candlelight streaming from the windows. Harry breathed a little more easily knowing that even when loud snorting and grunting noises reached them as they reached where they had reached they had first met the Quest NPC who was luckily not around.

They stand shoulder to shoulder as the moon slowly inches its way to its peak while they ready their weapons and listens to the crunching of plants under hoofs and the sounds of their breathing, out in the darkness. Harry's heart settles into a slightly erratic pace but it is one that Harry is comfortable with; used to in his years of battles, of war and monsters. Dudley wasn't and maybe that was something he should have paid more attention to as multiple sets of glowing red eyes bleed through the black.

* * *

Dudley lost his head. He played a lot of MMORPGs but he hadn't realised the difference it made to be up close and personal with the mobs he was fighting. With actual monsters - or good enough - and have to "physically" battle them. They had all been thrown into this death game and the consequences of what that meant hadn't fully…clicked until he had rushed forward and gotten separated from Harry.

There had been too many and with every hit he wasn't dealing half as much damage as he was taking. He got more and more panicked with his Hit Points hitting the red and his thinking more erratic. He nearly -

But then Harry was there. Using The **Beast Cows** as stepping stones until he was back to Dudley's side. (Must have been an unlocked **Skill** , Dudley's mind whispered). Harry whose expression had a manic edge to it even if it might seem psychotically calm, all controlled movements as he swirled to put his back to the mobs as he went through his **Menu** and took the time to scroll to summon a **Potion** to his hand all the while taking damage.

 _Damage for Dudley._

Because Dudley had lost it; because Dudley was an _idiot._ Twice the one as whatever he had accused Harry of _ever_ being.

 **'Heal.'** Harry commanded as he held the viral in front of Dudley and instantly he feels light. The notes from the betas had never suggested any sensory feedback from damage but that wasn't the case anymore; the lower his Hit Points had gotten, the slower his reaction time had become, the number his limbs felt with a pins and needle sensation starting to travel through his body.

Now he was free but he didn't even have time to digest the change before Harry was ripping around to attack the **Beast Cow** that had been ramming into his unguarded back. _'Dudley.'_ Harry commanded in a voice so deep it near distorted the mic that was enabling it. 'Help me.'

Dudley jolts as if burnt as he jumps into action and starts to pull his own fucking weight. _Idiot,_ his mind screams as he slashes. _Idiot,_ it roars as he parries and unleashes a **Sword Skill**. _What were you thinking?! Dudley, what -_

But Dudley knows already. He wasn't _like_ Harry. He had lived a mostly save life minus few exceptions like encountering those Dementors but even then he had had Harry to deal with it. He had never had to fight for his life and now not only was that hurting _him_ but it was also hurting Harry.

 _Sorry,_ Dudley thinks as tears well in his eyes. He feels their sting and hates how they cloud his vision. Like **SAO** was punishing him for having an emotional response. He hates _himself_ for putting Harry in this situation at all. This is all his Goddamn fault and he can't -

 _Fuck._

He can't be the reason that Harry dies. Not here. Not like this. Not with all Harry had been through and fucking survived. This couldn't - _pull it together,_ he demands as he yells **"Switch"** and forces Harry back as he screams into an account, raw and desperate. His own voice breaks and he resents that as he forces his sword through a **Beast Cow** 's fucking face.

Their attention seems to be on him now, the pressure less on Harry whose own HP was low enough for concern. 'Use a **Potion**.' Dudley calls as he defends, sword heavy in his hands as he watches in his peripheral as Harry hesitates, staff wavering before nodding and opening his **Menu** up once more.

Dudley snaps forward once more to see a **Beast Cow** trying to get around him and - _no._ He snaps forward and cuts the bastard across the face, it's a small cut but it figures that a mob that big would have high Defence. It doesn't seem to take it's attention off of Harry either which further infuriates Dudley.

 _Since you liked it so much the first time,_ Dudley thinks and takes a breath. Holds as his heart echoes in his ears and releases in an almighty _roar_ that has even Harry flinching from where he's downing their last **Potion** like an alcoholic on his last drink. The sound rattles and for a minute there is silence as every mob surrounding them freezes.

 **Class Activated**

 **Class** ** _Protector_** **Has Been Triggered.**

 **Do You Identify?**

 **O - X**

Dudley's mind barely has time to process the pop-up. He's in the middle of a Quest, trying not to die and murder his cousin and the screen is frankly in the way. But "Class" catches his attention before he can close it because - _a Class_. They were notoriously hard to activate due to prerequisites. In **SAO** you couldn't just click a button and _choose_. That wasn't enough.

"Protector"; Dudley knew that Class. It was a Tank, in other words. A Tank to specialise in defence, he could work with that. Harry was more of a forward -

'What're you doing?!' Harry snaps as he calls " **Switch** " and forces Dudley's arse intro gear. 'Get into the moment!'

'Right!' Dudley shouts back as he presses the accept button with a shaky hand. Classes were a huge advantage. It meant different, alternative Skill Tree and weapon specialisation. It meant _choices._

Dudley feels almost jittery with as hope and fear war in him as he tries to concentrate back on the battle. It lasts hours and its early morning by the time they've finished the last mob off. They both stand out in the clearing they've made, still and read while waiting for one more - a surprise attack that never comes.

 **Quest Cleared**

 **(O)**

Dudley all but falls to the ground in relief but doesn't even get a chance to breathe at having _survived_ it before Harry is turning on him with burning eyes and he thinks that maybe he wouldn't after all. 'You -' his cousin growls with his mouth set as if he's about to bite into Dudley's throat. _'You -'_

Harry has a sharp, unforgiving tongue. He's a cheeky brat really. Always has been and Dudley couldn't ever see that changing. For that reason, Dudley knows he's fucked up when Harry can't even finish a sentence. 'I'm sorry.' He says instead.

'You think a -' Harry is about to say before he's standing down with a guarded expression of _mighty_ displeasure. Really, it was never truly the magic that Dudley was afraid when he was younger. His little cousin just always had this way about this that made him seem…more.

'Heroes!' A young voice call which is enough of an answer to Dudley's unasked questions as to what had stalled the fire. He looks behind him and sees the Quest NPC with another just next to him, a little girl wearing old fashioned bed clothes and holding on to her "brother's" hand.

Dudley glances at Harry and they both approach the two. The nearer they get, the sicker the girl look. The boy has a large grin on his face, stretched and thin as he thanks them. 'Mighty kind o' ya!' He exclaims as his sister silently nods, poking out just behind his shoulder. 'Ere, take this. Pa _did_ always say to repay debts.'

 **Bonus Item**

 **Cream**

 **(O)**

 **Cream** isn't anything to get excited over but the reward was only part of the reason why people went on Quests. Another reason was to earn EXP, Skills and - sometimes - currency and Dudley knew they had done that.

'Thank you.' Harry says as he accepts the **Item.**

The boy grins. 'Jus' don't eat it all at once.' He quips as he waves goodbye, his cursor turning back into an Exclamation point.

'V-visit again s-sometime….' The little girl whispers and Dudley knows from her own cursor that she would give them the other Quest on this Floor.

'Sure.' He agrees and hopes that's enough even as she smiles shyly back at him. He vaguely knew some of the initiating sentences to start some Quests but not many and it would really be all guess work.

'Bye.' Harry says with as much patience as he has before turning around and leaving Dudley staring after him. It takes a second before he realises he's meant to react to that and he quickly starts to try and catch of up with Harry's pace.

'Choice -'

'You're an idiot.' Harry states before Dudley can try apologising again.

Dudley cringes but doesn't deny it as he stares at the angry back of Harry's head. 'Yeah, I know. I'm -'

'This isn't just another of your games.' Harry goes on, stomping down the path back to the Inn in a way which said he'd much rather be stepping on someone's _face_. 'You don't get another chance if you fuck this up.'

Dudley feels himself tense and hates himself just a little more. 'I know.'

Harry turns so quickly towards him that Dudley must have blinked and missed it because one second he's staring at Harry's wild hair and the next Harry's nose is bumping into his as his small cousin has to lean up on his tip toes to slap his shoulder, pushing Dudley back a step. 'Then. Don't. Do. That. Again.'

'Right, I promise.' Dudley responds sincerely. He has no plans to hold Harry back or put him in danger. 'I'm…I really _am_ sorry.'

Harry's frozen for a moment. 'I don't want you to be sorry!' Harry yells back as his eyes go went and - _Christ_ , Dudley feels like a piece of shit already but _please don't cry,_ he pleads to himself. 'I want you to stay _not_ dead!'

Guilt tribbles in Dudley and he almost apologises again before he remembers that it's probably not something Harry wants to hear for a third - fourth time. 'I know. I'm…readjusting. I'll get my head on straight, Choice, I promise.'

A second passes, then two and then three before Harry defeats like the strings that had been holding him up had been cut. 'Just…you can't die on me, you hear? You _can't.'_

Dudley's heart beat speeds up and he wishes that Harry's anger was merely that, that it wasn't born out of fear or need. Dudley wishes that he could promise Harry this; could reassure him the world but this was a _death game_ now and Harry had been through a war at the ripe old age of sixteen where leaders of both sides had been pushing him into the great unknown.

Harry's smart and he understands how death goes, _so much_ better than Dudley himself does. They'd be empty words so he doesn't say them. 'I'm with you, Harry.' He promises instead because he will be. Because there is _magic_ in this world. 'And I always will be.'

Harry doesn't nod right away but when he its small like he's accepting something when he really wants more of something else. In the next few days they ago on to complete the next Quest and set out to **Starting City**. It is, telling, not brought up again and Dudley feels like he's walking on eggshells not to _fuck it up_ as the two of them try and get used to - need each other.

Luckily, they gain a friend from their trip that goes to ease the tensions between them.

* * *

 **Con/textual Vomit:** You don't even want to _know_ how many revisions this chapter went through. Just, like, no. But its done now and hopefully the next chapter will be easier for me. Otherwise, see ya in 2019! Just kidding...hopefully.

Anyway, I've properly implemented Classes because I honestly think its stupid that the anime didn't include them, in saying that it was written by someone who didn't know anything about games so go figures.

I really want to get the mechanics right and flesh things out and not just with the game but with the rehabilitation etc.

Sorry its taken this long and thank you for staying with it for so long and all your support, I have every intention of finishing this story :).

 **PlotBunnies4u** (adorable handle btw) thank you for your review. I've just been really busy. It doesn't have much to do with the length of my chapters ^^". That I'm just _slow._

Harry's magic will be a thing but not for the mechanics of the game because this _is_ a game. Magic and tech don't mix, besides the fact there wouldn't be any code for it in the game if the NerveGear _survived_ magic going through it. (Though I have no idea how an outside source of energy would be uploaded into a game anyway.) So, no, there won't be any Skills to do with that in the game. Not saying that there won't be anything special for Harry in the game ;). If reviewers want to ask further questions about this then thats fine but my mind won't be changing on that.

I won't be dealing with the Wizarding World for awhile and I'm gonna keep pretty much all of that close to my chest. Sorry ^^"

 **(Originally Uploaded: 15/04/2017)**

 **OZ**


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